Spend Time Alone - Why Retreating Once a Year is Important for Your Mental Health
Not everyone can take a vacation every year. Nor does a Yoga or meditation retreat appeal to ALL people. Some of us have dependents, or our financial situation doesn't let us get away very often.
Yet, I challenge you:
At least once a year, take one day, weekend or week and plan time to be on your own.
Even if you live alone! The thing is to get away from daily routines.
Whether we are consistently surrounded by others, or on our own a lot of the time, it is good to get away from it all. A lot of us live a daily repeat of daily responsibilities. Things become boring. We lose interest. We take things for granted. And we build feelings of resentment (even though we have it pretty good, all things considered).
Making it a practice of getting away from routine gives us a chance to reset.
If we can find a way to pull away from our domestic responsibilities, even for 24 hours, it gives us a chance to renew our nervous system and gain fresh perspective. If you can take a whole weekend or a week to be alone even more amazing. But even a single day, even ONE day, will do the trick.
It doesn’t have to be a fancy, high-end retreat.
You can design your day any which way you like. Maybe it is an adventure out in nature; a park and a picnic. If you can afford it, book one night at an AirBnB.
The idea is to take yourself away from daily responsibility and routine and be with yourself in quiet reflection.
Make time to write, or read. Or just rest. Take yourself out for a special meal.
This is not the kind of get away where you pack it full of trips and tours, although include any special treat or activity that will fill you up.
But what I am really suggesting is a bit of quiet time.
Time to be silent.
Time to experience a bit of space around you and inside you.
A break from the to do list.
We rarely make time to slow down and let life unfold.
If we do take vacations they are usually with other people. Often when we go away from home, it is to a concert or a weekend trip; an event of some kind. I am proposing getting away for quiet time.
Quiet time evokes for us a pause. Time for silence and being slow renews us in a way we don’t often experience in the modern world. Letting the day unfold without an agenda allows us to regain trust in the way life unfolds magically.
We might even bump into a new, special human. Or happen upon a magical moment out in nature. Or stumble across an exciting opportunity that leads us exactly where we dreamed of going.
Most importantly this time alone allows us to reconnect with ourselves. When we slow down to listen to our hearts we hear these quiet yearnings from inside. We remember forgotten dreams and desires. We remember what is really important and what really nourishes us.
We get clear about what we are holding onto that is no longer serving us. We have time to take a breath and let go of the stuff that is weighing on us.
When we spend time away from our daily lives, we find more appreciation for what we have at home. We remember what we love about our loved ones. We notice many of the things that bug us are itty bitty obstacles rather than this huge thing we have made it into.
We become more aware of our own patterns of thoughts and behaviours. We can more easily see the habits that get in the way of our health and wellness.
It is so simple and so powerful to step away from daily life. We make excuses because in our modern world it is common to stay busy, wrapped up in the daily grind.
Pull away.
Watch the gifts that come to you when you have the courage to make a little time for yourself. You deserve it!
Want to know when I am hosting my next retreat? Reach out!
