The Disney Blues

Hi there, I know.. It’s been a while. Let’s recap. Over the summer I started publishing my (hopefully) helpful hints and tips for planning a Walt Disney World holiday. Then in September I jetted off for a magical two weeks in WDW and when I got back I tweeted about how wonderful it had been and how inspired I was to create all new content based of my experience… And then a combination of life and the Disney blues got in the way.

I’m very fortunate to have been to Walt Disney World twice before this trip – both times I’ve been extremely sad to leave but have always got that “see you real soon” vibe. This time leaving the parks was the hardest it’s ever been and I think that’s because I know there’s no return trip in sight. As magical as this trip was I think we all felt the strain and I will be honest, it was nowhere near the trip I wanted it to be. This combined with the fact I jumped straight into my new coaching post almost as soon as I got home made me feel a little down about the trip and rather uninspired to share my thoughts.

For weeks after we came home I spent my free time moping around the house in my spirit jersey watching my Instagram highlights and drinking from my Disney mugs. I watched all the vlogs I could of Disney trips from any park, stalked the Instagrams of any cast members I could find and tried to immerse myself in the parks bubble without physically being in the park – basically feeling sorry for myself and letting the Disney blues truly fester within me. So what changed?

Well as I mentioned above as soon as I got back I jumped into a new job – I’m a gymnastics coach again! Before I headed off to university I spent my weekends coaching gymnastics, a sport I’ve loved since I was a little girl. Whilst at uni, two of the girls I worked with opened up their own gym. After finishing uni I had no idea what I was going to do with my life (potential future post spoiler alert?) and I got so fortunate that one of the coaches is going to have a baby and so the girls needed maternity cover. So since September I’ve been putting my new Level 2 WAG coaching qualification to good use and I’m back to coaching gymnastics, but what has that got to do with my Disney blues?

One of the best things about coaching gymnastics is getting to work with kids – including a super little squad of 7 year olds, all of whom have picked up on my Disney obsession due to my large collection of Primark socks. One of the girls is the daughter of another coach I work with – she’s hilarious and I love coaching her to bits. On Saturday morning it’s just three coaches in for the first hour – along with 20 little gymnasts in our general development squad. I was still feeling sorry for myself (despite it being over 2 months since I’d returned home) and had done a little Black Friday online retail therapy (from Shop Disney amongst others) to try and help, which I was telling the girls about – in particular that I’d purchased the Christmas Disney thermal mug so hopefully next Saturday I’d be drinking my tea from that. It was at that stage the coach who’s also a mum said to me “oh -insert gymnast’s name- said to me on Thursday night after her session with you: Jana just loves Disney doesn’t she mum. She always has a little bit of Disney on her, it’s just like her thing the way mine is gymnastics for life – hers is Disney”. It just melted my heart a little and really stayed with me the rest of the day. Then when I got home I went to my room to get changed like always and couldn’t help but smile at all the Disney in my room thinking about what my little gymnast had said.

It helped me realise that Disney magic is what you make it – that I didn’t need to be in a Disney park or in head to toe Disney clothing to feel the magic of Disney. All I needed to do was step back – take some time away from the screens and social media, get out of my head and just enjoy the Disney magic. Moral of the story – the kids are always the best at finding the magic so it’s best to just trust your inner child.

So I’m pleased to say that this week will (hopefully) be the relaunch as such of my blog. All of those posts I have noted down to write or have half started are finally going to get published – maybe in an alternating Blogmas style? I’ll keep you updated on that one, but for now I’m off to watch I’m a celeb with a cup of tea in a Disney mug – because that’s how all drinks should be consumed. So I’ll see you real soon!