To think it was all good just a few weeks ago. *Sigh* 😔
Since being pulled from clinical experiences and a 14 day Stay-at-home order being in place in the City of Atlanta due to COVID-19 aka #Coronavirus, I definitely have more time to myself. Along with learning a new Tik Tok Dance and completing Instagram challenges, this is a great time to focus on self-care and wellness with what I learned from volunteering for the first ever ESSENCE Wellness House.
It was an exclusive retreat with one day of self-care with fitness experts and wellness practitioners teaching you about how to be physically healthy and have healthy relationships. Here are some of the things I’m working on:
Physical wellness: Dance cardio, Yoga, Bootcamp (Trying to recreate @effectfitness as much as possible) and Nutritional Wellness…meal prepping and juicing
Spiritual & Emotional Wellness: Mindfulness & Meditation Sessions, Positive Affirmations Exercises, Reading my daily devotional, Writing blog entries, Self reflection
Relationship Wellness: Social distancing can be lonely when you’re in another state without family but I’m still connected with friends, catching up with friends I haven’t talked to in a while
Financial Wellness: Brainstorming branding ideas, budgeting for this year and the next
Occupational wellness: Studying….well trying to get a few hours in a day, Working on VSAS, Fixing up my personal statement, CV, and reaching out to letter writers for LORs
As a medical student, you may never have this much time again. You’re schedule can be rigid and your every move dictated. So, I have to take advantage of this while I can.
As a volunteer, I worked with the American Medical Association (AMA) and all of our to support the heart health campaign led by Dr. Patrice A. Harris, the President of the AMA. Heart health is vitally important on an individual and community health basis.
Cardiovascular disease is the number on cause of death in the U.S. and it kills nearly
50,000 black women in the U.S. every year. Research shows only a fraction of black women are aware of the warning signs or understand their personal risks so our task was to inform all participants about the importance of heart health wellness tips and resources.
The event was sold out and I would say definitely a success.
While volunteering, I was able to network with so many black women in medicine. One being one of Morehouse School of Medicine’s finest, Dr. Alcha Strane. She is a graduate of MSM and a current OB/GYN resident. I always saw her around campus, but we never really hung out. In MSM fashion, we stuck together throughout my time at the event as if we knew each other for years as childhood friends.
As we ventured through the different areas we were able to meet Dr. Jackie! Yes, Dr. Jackie Walters an OB/GYN here in Atlanta mostly known as the doctor to many celebrities and her role on the show Married to Medicine. We made a “V” to promote her book The Queen V which is about women’s self-awareness meant to educate, entertain and empower women. I need to read it to figure out my vaginal personality (V.P.) 💁🏾. I think it’s so necessary to have a book like this that empower women sexually and educates them about their health.
While going to pick up our yoga mats Alcha mentioned that Jazzy Phae was at the bar. I was like girl get out! She was like no he really is. So, me being me I had to say something. I walked over, apologized for interrupting and we introduced ourselves to him and his guests. He was really cool and laid back. He told me my name was the same as his high school sweetheart! We mingled for a little while longer then we left. Before we could go back down stairs, I realized I didn’t get a picture with him. 😮 I looked over at Alcha, she just laughed and said if you want to go back I’ll go with you but I definitely would not do this if you weren’t here. LOL! So, I’m like…ok let’s do this. I walked back over and I asked him if I could get a picture. He laughed, then said “No”. I replied, “Well, ok. It was still nice to meet you”. He laughed again and said, “Come over here so we can take this picture!”. I was like Ahhhhh! I told him I sang too but I wouldn’t be extra and sing for him. We took some pictures and a boomerang. The first boomerang didn’t come out good so he had me make another one. LOL!
Only in the A!
We also met the founder of The Honey Pot, Beatrice Dixon. Literally, the night before I had just had a discussion with my friends about a 30-second commercial that drove some people to discredit the company and we just didn’t understand why. We watched the commercial, I saw nothing wrong with it, it was actually very uplifting to me. I plan to own a business one day and I think it’s incredible that Target gives young black women entrepreneurs an opportunity to expand and grow their brand.
Honestly, partnering with a department store wasn’t even in my mind as a possibility with owning a business until I saw the Honey Pot’s advertisement, so it did exactly what it was intended to do: Inspire young black women
All of the women at the event were encouraging and it felt so good to be embraced by women passionate about their careers and motivating others to do the same. ESSENCE did an incredible job and held a remarkable event that will just continue to fulfill the purpose of their brand which is to promote a positive lifestyle in healthy living, emotional wellness and advancing professionally to achieve wealth for African-American women.
I look forward to attending the next ESSENCE wellness house event and to continue to promote the health and wellness of the black community!
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Pretty Nerdy Doc 