Quiet Confessions, Episode 25: Finding Your Disney and Reconnecting With Yourself

In this Quiet Confession, Chelsea reflects on a conversation with an old friend that led to a realization — Disney isn’t just a destination, it’s a feeling. It’s the space where “little me” exhales, where play and magic return, and where identity exists outside of motherhood, partnership, and responsibility.

Through this story, Chelsea invites listeners to rediscover their version of “Disney” — the place, activity, or ritual that reconnects them to who they are underneath all the roles they play. Because joy isn’t selfish. It’s sacred.

✨ Key Takeaways

• Everyone has a version of “Disney” — something that reconnects them to who they truly are.
  
  
• Joy and rest don’t need to be earned or justified; they’re essential forms of self-care.
  
  
• Reconnecting with ourselves models wholeness and authenticity for our children.
  
  
• Small, intentional moments of self-kindness add up to deep personal restoration.

💬 Soundbites

• “It’s about the moment when you can drop everything you’ve been carrying and see yourself underneath all of it.”
  
  
• “Somewhere along the way, we were taught that joy had to be earned. But what if it’s not selfish? What if it’s sacred?”
  
  
• “When we reconnect with the parts of ourselves that existed before we became parents, we show our kids what wholeness looks like.”
  
  
• “Whatever your version of Disney is, I hope you find time for it this week.”

Transcript

Chelsea Myers (00:01)
Hey, welcome back to another quiet confession. Time for you and I to hang out and chat and hold space for each other. So recently I met up with an old friend from college, the kind of friend who knows the version of me before life got crazy, before marriage, before kids.

before my to-do list became a constant hum slash scream in the back of my head. ⁓ And we were talking about Disney World because of course we were. We both agreed it's our happy place. She goes several times a year now. And as she was describing her trips, she said something

that stopped me in my tracks. She said, it's self care for me. It's how I'm able to be myself as something beyond a mom and a wife. It's where I can just be me. And I kind of, I kind of just stood there for a second, letting that sink in because yeah, that's

That's exactly it. Disney is my happy place too. And while I can't go nearly as often as I'd like, anytime I do, it feels like little me gets to take this big deep sigh and I feel settled. It's, it's

I don't know, it's really hard to explain. There's this part of me that's curious and playful and imaginative and it gets to come out when I'm at Disney World. I feel free and happy and most importantly, I feel like me. Now, when I say that I can't go as often as I would like, if it were up to me, I...

would live like on Disney property. ⁓ We won't get into all of the corruption behind the company as a whole, but the crew and cast members at the Disney parks are just built different. They are some of the kindest, most magical people I have had the pleasure of meeting.

And I will admit I have probably been to Disney World more than the average person. ⁓ I, it's every, I mean, I went a few times as a kid and now I've gone three times as an adult. Well, coming up. When you listen to this, I will have gone for my third time as an adult. But here's the thing, okay? I know I'm going on a tangent. This is not really about Disney.

It's about the feeling that Disney gives me. It's about that moment where you can drop everything you've been carrying and see yourself underneath all of it. Because we all have something like that. For some people, it's a place. For other people, it can be an activity.

whatever it is, it's something that connects you to you. Maybe it's creating something with your hands, like painting or crafting, crocheting, gardening, baking. Maybe it's music, making music, listening to music. Maybe you like to go on hikes in the woods where the only sound is the

crunch of the leaves under your feet. As I'm recording this, is peak foliage where I'm at right now. Maybe it's something different. Maybe for you it's traveling somewhere new or even simply just taking the long way home because you can roll down the windows and breathe or sing at the top of your lungs.

It's just, it's the moments when you can take off the mom hat, the partner hat, the responsible adult who is supposed to have everything together, but is really winging it. Hat. Is that just me? Is that just my hat? I don't know. It's, it's moments when you can just be.

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us were taught that doing things just for ourselves was selfish and that joy had to be earned and that rest or fun always had to be justified. But what if it's not selfish? What if it's sacred?

Because really, when we connect or reconnect with the parts of ourselves that existed before we became parents, or even alongside it, we show our kids what wholeness looks like. For lack of a better word, that's the first word that came to mind. We're reminding them that it's okay to be

lots of different things, that it's good to have passions and dreams and places and things that just belong to you.

So today I want to invite you to think about your quote unquote Disney. What's that place real or completely imagined where you feel like you? Where you can breathe deeper, where your shoulders relax without you even realizing it.

and where joy just comes easily.

If it's been a while since you've been there, maybe it's time to find your way back. It doesn't have to be a big trip. You don't have to plan your next trip to Disney or Universal or any of those big parks that are not sponsoring me. And this is not an ad. Sometimes it can be lighting a candle and playing a song that reminds you of who you really are.

Maybe it's digging out your grandmother's recipes and baking something that she used to make for you. Maybe it's painting your nails just because you like the color. I don't know, those little moments of remembering, they add up. They tell the world and ourselves that we matter too.

So whatever your version of Disney is, I hope you find time for it this week. I hope you give yourself permission to be the person underneath all of the roles you play. Because you're still in there. We're all still in there. The version of us who laughs and dreams big and actually feels alive rather than like a zombie.

That part of us deserves space too.

So before I head out, I want to invite you, like I always do, to do something kind for yourself. Maybe it's taking an extra long shower. Maybe it's sending a text or a meme or whatever to a friend who always makes you laugh. Or maybe it's planning that trip or giving yourself permission to daydream about it.

Whatever it is, do it for you. And I'll do the same thing. All right, I hope I see you back here next week.

But until then, remember, you're not alone and you're still you.