Self-Care Saturday: A Personal Retreat
This weekend I have the immense privilege of escaping to a quaint historic town outside my new city for two nights of good sleep, reading, and working on aspirations outside of motherhood. I have a wonderful husband who is confident with the kids and I have no worries. I realize this scenario won’t work for everyone, but I highly recommend planning at least one personal retreat for yourself during the school year.
Some tips to make it happen:
- Think Ahead: What does self-care look for you? For me, my retreat was a break from daily motherhood, an opportunity to stimulate my mind differently. As a full-time teacher, your retreat might look exactly opposite. Do you need some time in nature? Some time in the city? Just a bed to catch up on sleep? A cozy chair and lighting to read fiction for 24 hours? Uninterrupted time with friends? A television or laptop to catch up on your favorite binge-worthy show?
- Plan Ahead: Pick a date and put it on the calendar. Prepare childcare if needed. If you have one, make sure your partner is on board.
- Make reservations: If you’re staying overnight, skip the hotel and book an Airbnb. It makes overnights fairly accessible and you can pick a unique place to stay. Maybe you like the foodie scene. Book yourself a nice dinner.
- Make a Bucket List: For this retreat, I wanted to create an action plan of specific things I could actually accomplish. I wanted it to push me to focus my time, but I didn’t want it to be overwhelming. And I wanted to include some fun things, too. I spend a lot of my days tending to physical and emotional needs but never accomplishing tasks (like emptying the dishwasher, switching the laundry, etc!). I knew I needed time this weekend to work on something from start to finish in one sitting haha!
My bucket list for this weekend:
- Read The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
- Write 10 pages of my novel
- Write 5 blog posts
- Plan monthly themes for my social media
- Work on Elevate, the business-building class I’m enrolled in (By Author Kristen Martin–highly recommend!)
- Do a basic outline for a course I’m creating
- Continue another course I’m enrolled in
- Begin outlining an ebook related to the course I’m creating
- Begin outlining a book I plan to publish in the next year
- Reformat my book Out of All Eternity to prepare for an Amazon re-launch
- Go to a local used bookstore
- Take a walk in a nearby nature preserve
- Plan two YouTube videos
- Watch a few episodes of some 90s sitcom
Can I accomplish all that in 48 hours? Maybe not everything, but it’s amazing what I can do when I have the time and space to think for myself. And it’ll make me a more focused mom when I get home, too. My husband is awesome and everybody wins!
Best of luck in planning and enjoying your own personal retreat. Go forth and self-care!
