As always, Thursday’s Women Aware conference had much to offer to attendees. Hundreds of women perused vendors, picked up information on charities, and gained knowledge through breakout sessions on topics like self-defense and finances. The highlight was keynote speaker Christy Wright, a life coach and bestselling author, and her presentation was on finding balance in a busy life.
Attendees came from across the region. Among them were Stacey Payne of Kirksville and her sister, who were excited to hear Wright speak and to discover a new event.
“We’ve been going to conferences for several years and we were looking for a new place,” Payne said. She said particularly enjoyed the breakout session she attended about medicine.
Local businesses like Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center put their best forward during the conference. In a corner of the Black River Coliseum, PBRMC Director of Marketing Nicole Neidenberg said 50-75 people had visited the booth by lunchtime, giving staff an opportunity to connect with them about their health, promote upcoming events and even provide screenings.
“We made some primary care appointments and we have our bone density screenings going on, which check for osteoporosis,” Neidenberg explained.
Nelsie Donaldson with the Poplar Bluff VA was attending the conference for her third year. The educational element of the event was what stood out to her.
“You get a lot of good education about different things and it’s a good place for women to come,” she said.
Wright is the author of “Take Back Your Life” and “Business Boutique,” among other books. The topic of her keynote session was finding life balance — and figuring out what that even looks like.
“Here’s my theory...I don’t think your problem is that you’re failing. I think our problem is that we don’t know what winning is,” she said.
The speech followed the bullet points of “Take Back Your Time.” She began by identifying four causes of imbalance and frustration:
• Doing too many things at one time.
• Not doing enough things, which leads to feeling lost or lonely in a slow season of life.
• Doing the wrong things, or achieving things that do not matter to oneself.
• Not doing the right things.
“Life balance is about doing the right things at the right time, and here’s the great thing: you get to decide what’s right for you,” Wright said.
Attendees journaled a list of what occupied their time before Wright provided ways to focus on what each person valued most in their life. That list included:
• Figure out what matters in this season. This could be time with family, she explained, or personal projects.
• Stop doing what does not matter. Here, Wright included stats about phone use, noting she did not think cell phones were evil, just distracting. She puts her phone in a box when she gets home from work so she can be present with her family, she told the room.
• Create a calendar of things that matter. There is always room to reasses priorities later, but the important thing is adding them to the structure of one’s life.
“When I put it on the calendar, it happens,” she said.
• Protect what matters. This meant setting boundaries “ruthlessly” — for example, if dinner with family every night was a priority, she recommended refusing to schedule anything near mealtime to ensure everyone could participate.
• Be present for what matters. Wright encouraged attendees to “be where your feet are.” In studies of mindfulness, researchers found those who practiced staying mentally present in the moment experienced greater peace and less stress.
“When you actually follow these steps in any new season, you will feel balance — your version of balance, which is the only version that matters,” Wright said.
“When you define your version of balance, you actually create it.”