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Waveney Ann Moore: The gift of being unbothered

Waveney Ann Moore

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"Unbothered," says Karen Davis-Pritchett, "is being intentional about guarding our inner peace and really shutting out the noise of destructive criticism, strife and pettiness and really thinking about what is aggravating me, what’s keeping me that I don’t have balance in my life." Photos provided.

It’s almost that time of year when we’ll be inundated with commercials urging us to sign up for diet programs and gym memberships – or better yet, invest in an expensive exercise machine that likely will become a clothes horse in months to come.

It’s all about tapping into our yearning for new beginnings.

I thought of fresh starts recently when I read two new motivational books by St. Petersburg resident Karen Davis-Pritchett. She was in the second grade when she wrote her first book and stapled the pages together.

In adulthood, the healthcare executive and former English teacher has focused her muse on a pair of books that honor “the remarkable strength and beauty of women.”

They couldn’t have appeared at a more appropriate time.

As holidays approach – and it’s not limited to just then — many of us rush around taking on more than can conceivably be accomplished. Davis-Pritchett’s books offer fuel for the tasks at hand, along with reassurance and lessons to tame our futile and often ridiculous quest for perfection.

It occurred to me as I read her books, Strong and Beautiful, and CrossRoads, that they’re just the sort of inspiration needed to start the new year. Strong and Beautiful is fortified with affirmations and includes space for readers to record reflections. In it, Davis-Pritchett shares her grief after the loss of her baby daughter, Lauren, who lived for only a few hours. She writes frankly about how she initially attempted to cope.

Her collection of short stories in CrossRoads serves up tales of choices and lessons learned amid challenges such as breast cancer and destitution. I asked her about these short stories – a format purposely chosen to respect busy lives – and she said they are meant to draw readers into identifying with an aspect of a character’s life and choices, even without having had similar experiences themselves.

“It is something to think about. It’s something that can be applied to our lives, our relationships, how we process the different situations that we find ourselves in, or our girlfriends or our circles,” she said. At the same time, they are entertainment, written in the style of talking to a friend or overhearing a conversation in a coffee shop, she added.

While Davis-Pritchett has written her books for women in general, I wondered whether she thought they might especially resonate with Black women, particularly in terms of being recognized as both strong and beautiful.

“I think, historically for Black women, we have not seen our image or our features in the media to say that Black women are beautiful,” she said.

For Black women like herself, that means, “the span of our hips, our full lips, our wide noses and the different richness of our skin tones,” she said. “All of that is unique and it creates the unique me.”

It’s a uniqueness and inherent beauty she sees in all women, regardless of race or ethnicity. “There are millions and millions of people in the world and regardless of that, you are beautiful. There is no one like you,” she writes. “There are so many messages that we are bombarded with that say that we are not enough.”

But the St. Petersburg native didn’t succumb to negative messaging. “I was raised to know my self-worth and to know the uniqueness of who I am,” she told me.

An only child, her doting parents listened enthusiastically as she shared her stories. She has a Master of Education in Community Counseling from Howard University, one of the nation’s premiere Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Florida State University.

She’s a graduate of the Leadership St. Pete class of 2014 and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section of the National Council of Negro Women. Davis-Pritchett also is a Certified Laughter Yoga Group Facilitator. And for anyone who’s wondering, as I was, that means she leads a yoga class that incorporates intentional laughter into yoga breathing techniques.

She’s married to the Rev. J.C. Pritchett II, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and new president of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club. Their son, J.C. Pritchett III, is a student at the University of South Florida.

She obviously knows about interminable “to-do” lists. “We run from appointment to appointment, constantly raise our hands for the next committee, sign up for countless Zoom meetings and pack our weekends with activities,” she writes. “When do you stop and rest?”

Being tired or over-scheduled “robs us of inner beauty, peace and stability,” she adds.

Somehow, Davis-Pritchett manages to be at once stern and gentle. She’s unabashedly Christian, sprinkling biblical verses below the affirmations that appear in her Strong and Beautiful book. 

 “The goal is to uplift and encourage and empower,” she said. “There are no boundaries of color, religious affiliation. It is very important to me, because these messages resonate with all women and it is about understanding who we are as women, the challenges we face and that we have a strength and a beauty that if we recognize it and cultivate it, we can walk in our purpose of leadership and unbothered-ness, so that we empower our community, our city and our families.”

“Unbothered” is her signature word, put into practice in her personal life and displayed on T-shirts she wears and sells, so I wasn’t surprised when she took it a step further and coined “unbothered-ness” during our chat.

Here’s what being unbothered means to her: “It is being intentional about guarding our inner peace and really shutting out the noise of destructive criticism, strife and pettiness and really thinking about what is aggravating me, what’s keeping me that I don’t have balance in my life. It’s also tapping into the stillness.”

In Strong and Beautiful, she asks tough questions of those experiencing the opposite: “Are we making decisions that are not productive? Are we in relationships that are toxic? Are we overspending and accumulating debt?”

It helps to have a team behind you, Davis-Pritchett said. “Team Karen” is made up of her tight-knit family, including its strong, beautiful women – her mother, close friend Kristi and seven “sister cousins.” She and her cousins talk or text almost every day, travel together and pray together. And recently, when she was interviewed at Tombolo Books by Keonna Welch, daughter of St. Pete’s Mayor-elect, her sister cousins were right there in the front row.

She’s hoping to launch a movement  “to encourage, educate and empower women” with her Strong and Beautiful Facebook group, Twitter handle, @StrongKDP1, and website, strongkdp.org.

The publication of her books is the realization of a long-held dream. It hadn’t been the right time when she tried to do so a few years earlier. The arrival of Covid-19 changed that.

“I’m not putting my dreams and aspirations on hold. I’m going to do this,” she decided, and proceeded to self-publish.

“I also think that during the pandemic, I wanted to have a voice of encouragement for people, because I know that people are still hurting. I also want women to be able to ask for help and to understand that there is strength in that vulnerability.”

Asking for help, whether it’s from a mental health professional or friend, doesn’t signify weakness, she said. “It means that you’re human. As women, let’s not perpetuate that we can do everything alone.”

 

 

 

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Nikki Austin - Shipp, MBA

    December 23, 2021at10:51 am

    Karen is a superior inspiration, proud to have known her since our formative years at The Florida State University and my Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Line Sister 💝💚

  2. Avatar

    Hodge Teralyn

    December 21, 2021at11:42 am

    I want to encourage Karen to continue to Walk By Faith with all her gifts and talents. Let Your Light Shine and Glorify our Heavenly Father.

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