A couple of weekends ago, our leadership team had the opportunity to attend the RISE Conference hosted by Rachel Hollis in Dallas and let me tell you, we all walked away with a new fire in our hearts.
Today, we wanted to take a minute to share some of our biggest takeaways as well as why you should put this event on your bucket list for 2020.
Here's what Halee our Retail Manager in Indiana, had to say about RISE:
"What a weekend. This was definitely the most impactful and amazing weekend I have ever experienced on a personal level. The level of encouragement and support in that room is something I hope to see more of and definitely give to others. I think I can speak for all of us that we will absolutely never forget the lyrics to Ruff Ryders (where ya at, girls?!) or spring from our chairs when someone screams 5, 4, 321!! Something I've always been told as a kid and through life is to "follow your dreams." I got engaged in Disney World for gosh sake, I love all of the dreaming! I learned this past weekend that my dreams are important and my dreams can absolutely be attainable if I'm willing to work for them. That voice in my head (what's up, Gail) tries to diminish them and make me feel like I'm not qualified enough or good enough to achieve them. That is so wrong and I have learned different ways and actions on how to shut down that voice and move forward with what I want to achieve in this life. You can only control two things in life: your attitude and your effort.
I learned that showing gratitude can completely change my thoughts and mood for the day and that is something I plan to implement into my daily routine. My biggest takeaway, however, is that I can do anything I want to do and now I have plans and actions to make those dreams happen. We all have different stories and journeys that we're on but we need to unpack the things that do not serve us so we can be our best selves and achieve our dreams. It's OKAY to fail, failing means you're trying and as long as you're trying, you will get there! So here's to you and to us for showing up and being brave. Your purpose is important and so are your dreams. You are enough."
Erin, our Operations Manager, had this to say about her experience:
"My biggest take away from the RISExDallas conference is that I still have dreams. I've spent a long while thinking I didn't have any left. I thought because I was happy, content with my life, that that was all there was. My mindset was that if I wanted more for myself it was the equivalent to saying I wasn't happy. That my relationship, my daughter, my friendships, all of it wasn't enough. Enter guilt. When we started to talk about dreams I got really uncomfortable because I thought: I don't have any. Something is wrong with me. My time has passed. I'm broken. But I'm fine, I'm happy so why do I have to have dreams? (Again, that crazy mindset I didn't even know was there!) Rachel had us do a meditation before we wrote down our 10 dreams. It was a wonderful guided meditation (I love meditating). She asked, no demanded, that we were audacious with our thoughts- with our dreams- where we saw ourselves 5 or 10 years from now. Then she asked us to go bigger! After we were done Rachel asked, "who thought they didn't have any dreams?" My hand shot up as tears feel down.
Dreams are different than goals and because of the conference I now have both. Goals that will fulfill my dreams. Thank you Rachel, Thank you Chris, and thank you RR's for living this out with me."
One of Chris' good friends, Kelsey, came with us and here's what her biggest takeaway was:
"Okay so I learned A LOT, but my biggest takeaways were first to not reach for my phone immediately when waking up, and then to commit to a gratitude practice by writing down 5-10 specific things that I'm thankful for in the past 24 hours (My hubby keeping the kids so I can sleep in, pretty flowers from a friend, Bosa donuts, etc.)
Also, I realized the importance of surrounding myself with people who are modeling the life I hope to have. Whether it be success in business or the way they support and love on others, the people I surround myself with will have a big impact on my goals and dreams. Dave Hollis said that the "five people you spend the most time with is who you become."
Candy, our Office Supervisor, had some great breakthroughs at RISE:
"Have you ever felt lost and feeling like you are in need of direction or some kind of clarification? That’s how I have been feeling for awhile until RISE. RISE was an answered prayer. I have been struggling with myself and my future goals. I was feeling like they are just not good enough because I wasn’t good enough. A long time ago, I was once told by someone I loved that my dreams and choice of study in school was going to amount to nothing. That I wasn’t going to make a lot of money and exceed in my field of study because realistically, the fashion industry is a hard industry to get into. That they knew I would do well in school but afterwards, it would be hard for me to find a job that could actually financially support my family.
This negative feedback and conversation has stayed in the back of my head for a long time, feeding into my soul like a negative nasty nutrition. It was my “Pam”, constantly telling me I wasn’t good enough to pursue my dreams and goals. This was feeding into the rest of my insecurities that were already there, making it spread like a disease.
RISE helped me realize that I was good enough and failing is okay. It helped me realize that I needed to take the pain and doubt inside of me and turn it into fuel for my future. When Jen Hatmaker said “use your past as fuel for your future”, I was left breathless! I can use the pain of those negative words and the pain of my past to just do what I had been doing since I was young, keep reaching for more and not settling for less!
I feel so empowered after RISE, from 54321, moving my body to change my mind, “same you, clap, new mood” to a strong support system of Ruff Ryder sisters to keep me going! I now can own my past to create my future. I truly am thankful to Chris for bringing me to Rise, my answered prayer!"
After the conference, I wrote down 11 big takeaways and folded them to an overarching theme. Here's what I thought about RISE:
"I walked into this weekend, ready to receive and implement. I'd read Rachel's books and knew I loved her messaging so seeing her live was incredible. I don’t know about you, but I have a bit of a control issue and that resonates in my personal and professional life, although, I do feel like I’ve made great strides in letting it be (thank you, Beatles). A consistent theme at RISE was that you can control how you show up for life. You can make the conscious choice everyday to decide how you are going to go after a new goal, how you are going to be present at work, how you are going to be a patient wife. Only you can decide how you’re going to attack each day. So the next time something happens that is out of your control, stop, drop, shut ‘em down and open up shop. For those of you that’s didn’t get this reference, GO TO RISE, but also shift your focus to what you can control (PS- you can also control your reaction when things don’t go your way.)
In February this year, I hosted my own women's conference and when Rachel shared that the first RISE had 200 women attend in 2017, my eyes got so wide. My own conference had 150 women and that just reassured me that dreams that we turn into actionable goals are possible with the right habits, the right mindset, and the right energy. So cheers to continuing to be grateful for the journey."
Chris is the reason that we were all able to have this eye opening experience and as an employee, I can truly say that I have seen her make a major shift in the last 10 days. She shared this the other day on her Instagram:
"I feel like the last 4 years of my life are suddenly making sense. The dark days finally have a meaning. I’ve never felt more motivated to be the best version of myself so that I can help the women around me realize how amazing they are and bring light to their dark days. At RISE we talked a lot about the negative voice in our heads, mine is a real prize, she loves to tell me how overweight I am, how I’m not pretty enough and how unlovable I am. People gave names to their voice, but guys the more I’ve prayed about it, that voice isn’t me, that voice is Satan and I’ve been letting him win.
If you’re starting this new day, this new week not knowing how amazing you are, how capable you are, how beautiful you are, how deserving you are, girl you are letting the lies win! God wants more for all of us! We are leaving a legacy for every girl that comes after us, do it for yourself and then do it for her. We are so much stronger then we let ourselves believe. Put the work in, get 30 minutes of movement a day, shut down the voice and any external voices of negativity in your life, choose your mood! You are in control! I’m going to say it again, your life is not out of control, you are in control!"
As you can see, this experience was so powerful for our leadership team. The rest of our staff is still a bit confused when they see us jumping around the office and dancing to shift our minds, but we think they will catch on eventually. If you ever get the chance to go to one of her conferences, we highly recommend it.
We are looking forward to bringing this renewed energy to CCB and sending a little bit of empowerment with each order. Here's to a great weekend!
