Do you feel burned out?

DeWitt resident Renee DeVesty, founder and owner of Blossom/Take Root & Grow, is launching a unique women’s self-awareness program next weekend, which will focus on the importance of balance in four core areas of women’s lives: physical, financial, spiritual and emotional.

The Eagle Bulletin interviewed DeVesty on Blossom, its goals and what participants can expect to take away from this two-hour experience.

When and why was Blossom established?

Blossom was established in 2008 because I continually witnessed the conflict faced in taking care of everyone else’s needs first — the job, the spouse or partner, the kids, the house, etc. and the guilt they felt if they did something special for themselves. I wanted to implement a program that raised awareness of this ‘self-neglect’ and really challenge women to use their unique ability to be nurturing, supportive and compassionate to themselves first — and watch how it positively changed every aspect of their lives.

The program has a component called Take Root & Grow. Will you please describe its significance?

Take Root & Grow is the main component of Blossom. In order to “blossom,” we need to take root of where we are in our lives today — examine how we arrived at the place we are now rooted — and look for personal growth inside ourselves. Whatever experiences are happening at this moment, there is always room for us to look inside and find light, strength and healing.

Why should women attend this program? What makes it different from other seminars?

Blossom is unique because we focus on four core concepts of awareness in one evening — physical, financial spiritual and emotional. Some programs are strictly financial in nature and we’re told if we are financially stable, we are set for life. Some programs motivate us to be physically fit and we’re told if we go to the gym five days a week, we’ll be happy. But the truth is we need awareness and focus in all four areas to achieve balance, peace and contentment in our lives.

What is one strategy you will focus on as the speaker for emotional awareness?

The most important strategy I like to offer women is to incorporate self love into every emotional aspect their life. We are constantly bombarded with messages of what we should look like or how we just don’t measure up. That translates into how we visualize ourselves, what we think about ourselves and consequently, the instruction pamphlet we show others of how to treat us. If we listen to our authentic voice that lies within us, we can overcome any message, any experience or any obstacle in our lives. It may take time and it may take work, but it is possible. We need only focus on our own voice — and no one else’s.

Why did you choose to take on this venture?

To help women get to the core of who they really are, despite anything that has happened in their lives, and to find peace and contentment rooted in where they stand today, implementing new growth for the future.

My personal story I will be sharing with attendees is the journey my life took as a rape survivor and how I constantly questioned my worth and value as a woman. We find it difficult to transfer back to ourselves the same love, compassion, support and forgiveness we generously extend to everyone else in our lives — especially when we personally experience setbacks, failures, disappointments in life and that’s when we need it the most.

What are Blossom’s goals for the future?

To do additional seminars in surrounding areas like Ithaca, Rochester, Utica and Albany. And as a youth leader, I see how much teens are affected by the pressures of society, by their peers and maintaining personal and family relationships. It’s so intense and they really struggle trying to maintain balance in all these things.

It would be wonderful to expand this program for teenagers to help them visualize how the choices they make now will impact them years down the road, give them the support they need to be strong in their core beliefs and instill in them confidence in who they are, despite their life experiences or where they came from. It is a dream of mine to eventually open a women’s center locally for teens and women of all ages to address the experiences and challenges we face at every stage of our lives.

Registration

Blossom’s presentation and interactive program will run from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday May 13 at the Glen Loch Mill Restaurant in Jamesville. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $25 per person. Light refreshments will be served and attendees are asked to dress comfortably to participate in practices such as yoga or pilates.

Aside from DeVesty, who is a member of WomenTies, a high school youth leader and advocate for women’s issues, speakers will include creative director/owner of the Fitness Business in Syracuse, Pam LeBlanc; financial advisor Joanna Ferguson and Susie Birchenough, who is certified in yoga and pilates and is an NIA instructor and practicing health coach.

For more information, visit reneedevesty.com or e-mail [email protected].