This past weekend, we celebrated my niece Sophia turning 4! She had a Paw Patrol themed party and it was E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! 

I became “Auntie D” when Sophia was born. And it’s the title I am most proud of.  A few weeks ago, I had the idea to gift her with her two favorite characters from Paw Patrol, Chase and Marshall, to make a guest appearance at her birthday. 

When Chase and Marshall arrived, the look on her little four year old face was simply this: A FULL BODY YES! And it was everything to see it in person.  Not only was it such a gift to see the joy in her face to see these two characters in real life, but it was AMAZING to see the quiet confidence and self-assurance that Sophia walks with today. (I’m OBSESSED!) 

The quiet confidence, self-assuredness, the trust in self, the knowing what feels good – they are all things that come so easily to us as young girls. But somehow along the way, we lose that. 

As adults, we tend to overcomplicate things. We get so caught up in hectic days or convoluted paths to happiness when the most wonderful things in life are the simplest.  Being an auntie has slowed me down long enough to understand that if something isn’t a FULL BODY YES for me, I just don’t have time to keep hanging onto it and letting it weigh me down.  Now, I get it, she’s 4! Getting to a full body yes happens on the regular and comes easy to her. And you might be saying to yourself, “yeah, that’s perfectly fine for a child. But as adults, we don’t have that luxury!”  But is that really true?

You see, when Sophia likes something, you know it. No overcomplicating. And when she doesn’t like something, well, you know that too.

She is ruled by her instincts right now and more often than not, they guide her in the right direction.  It has made me realize that we all deserve to rely more on our gut reaction to things rather than talking ourselves out of the way we feel.  Our instincts are powerful guides on this journey through life. And the more we listen to them, the stronger they get.  What Sophia embodies is what I aim for every single woman who joins The Unlearning Lab to feel.  To STOP overthinking and to TRUST your instincts. To give YOURSELF massive permission to experience the joy. To live up to the standards you set for yourself. To honor your truth.