About

This week, Samantha talks with wellness and success mentor and owner of Wise Oils Wellness, Athena Scalise Waitt.  Athena previously worked for NATO and worked for a non-profit called “Reef Relief.”  She was working in organization and managing people, but also the aspect of working for the greater good.  Growing up, she wanted to be a lawyer for women’s rights, and has always been an advocate for the environment.  Looking back, she didn’t know it at the time, but these things were manifested.  At a young age, she was connected to her value system.Now, Athena is still working now in a way that continues to lean into her passions.  As a part of this, Samantha and Athena explore the concept of the “mental vision board” as a guiding light.  Athena has a strong faith, which is a part of her own mental vision board.  The faith value is a big part of the “value pie” for her.  It was her children that got her back into the faith.  She didn’t want to force feed her children something just because that’s what she knew, so she went to a bible study to figure out what she believed herself.  She had a stroke in 2005 and breast cancer in 2007, and her faith gave her a completely different perspective on these things and also allowed her to witness to her faith with others.Athena says that no matter what you believe, you are not meant to live life alone.  Our biggest hurdle in life is comparison, which is the "thief of joy."  For five years, she struggled with fatigue due to recovery from surgeries, but she couldn’t say that her neighbor was doing better than her.  Still, it affected the way she was able to be a parent to her children, but she had to be kind to herself and have compassion for herself.We have to find ways to ground ourselves and get back to our “true compass,” which is the value system that guides us.She’s been on a wellness journey since she was 12 when her mom introduced her to the idea that she was responsible for her own decisions.  So, she’s been on the path of making informed decisions for a long time.  Most people don’t realize that they need to invest time to actually make informed choices.  So, when the pandemic hit, she was well equipped to help people get solutions into their hands right away.  Fear was a driving factor for people over the past year, and it can manifest physically in our bodies in many different ways.  She likes to get people in touch with their emotions, because there’s a direct connection to emotions and the body.  Getting back into touch with their bodies and get back to a sense of balance is what Athena wants most for her clients.She believes that we have to be proactively involved in the solution, no matter the problem.  Sometimes people just want an answer to their problems, but she believes you have to be proactive in your own healing.  You have to want to heal yourself.  Cancer is a part of her own story, but it isn’t who she is.  It has been 14 years since she got her diagnosis.  But, she doesn’t want to consider herself a “survivor” on a daily basis, she considers herself a "thriver."  It’s these root emotions that we need to get to the bottom of.  Then we start to unfold the ways to do the work ourselves.  There’s no judgment for people that can’t get to that point, because everybody is different and on their own path and we’ve all spent time there, but that's the goal.Whatever she’s doing, as long as she’s living into her core values of integrity and authenticity, she knows that she is enough.  Young mothers often have so much self-doubt and self-criticism that is steals the joy of their experiences.  She hopes that the next generation is able to break apart from the norms that shaped the previous generation of women to be a certain way.  It wasn’t just norms dictated by men, but also women who were taught a certain way and feel like the next generation should be the same.“It’s never too late to start being yourself.”Athena believes that we are evolving as a society, and her daughters are evolving as women, too, which excites her for their future.  Her children area always schooling her, also. This is great because she also understands that we need to be humble enough to understand that our children can teach us things.  Athena Scalise Waitt can be found in the following locations:wiseoilswellness.comFB:Wise Oils WellnessInstagram:@wiseoilsEmail:mywiseoils@gmail.com