Chilling with Young Women’s Leadership Program

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to spend the morning with an incredible group of girls pulled together by the fantastic program Young Women’s Leadership (YWL). YWL is part of the Jenna Druck Foundation, which was created in the memory of Jenna Druck to support families in their darkest and most difficult hours, as well as encourage young women to fulfill their dreams. Jenna Druck was tragically killed while studying abroad in 1996 at the age of 21, but lived her life with compassion and dedication, and as a natural leader with a passion for social justice. From what I witnessed Saturday morning, I’d say her legacy is alive and well in the thousands of girls YWL has and continues to serve.

On Saturday, I talked to the girls about how to tune in to what’s going on and discover ways to reduce the stress in their lives. As I prepared for the workshop over the past few weeks, I’ve been going through lots of stressors of my own, so delivering this message couldn’t have come at a better time. What I shared with the girls is that it’s so important to remember there is no quick fix to stress, and even when things in life are relatively balanced, there are always going to be situations that put your stress response into overdrive. Our best defense is to start practicing tuning in and learning how to assess where we’re at – body, mind, and soul. We all have the ability to listen to our gut and know when something is “off.” Once you start better recognizing when you’re off-balance, you’ll be that much more able to tackle stressors head-on and return to a place of peace and balance.

Feeling stressed? Read this previous post for more tips on de-stressing from my book, Chill: Stress-Reducing Techniques for a More Balanced, Peaceful You.

Me with YWL superwoman Leanne Tibiatowski