The Personal Retreat

I’ve mentioned that I recently took a much-needed vacation from my ‘day job’, and that I believe vacations are an essential element when creating success. For the most part, my vacation also rolled over to my writing and online activities – which I will tell you about in a couple of future posts. But for now, I want to talk about the two personal retreat days I took during that vacation. One the first week, and one the second.

My first personal retreat day came after working my regular 40 hours in 4 days, that ended with a 16 hour shift on Sunday. During my weekend at work, I had also gone ahead in my planner and did almost everything that I had scheduled during that 10 day period for my writing life. I did not want to have to do more than a few things during those 10 days off.

Thankfully, my neighbors were not feeling any great need to be loud all night so, after watching an episode of Numb3rs while relaxing on Sunday night, I got to sleep until 9:30 the next morning. What a treat!

I didn’t do much. My morning started with a bagel and some mint tea. I started reading the first book in the Morgan Dane series written by Melinda Leigh, and then had lunch before watching more episodes of Numb3rs. That evening I showered, using a shampoo and conditioner I purchased specifically because my hair had been feeling so dry the previous couple of weeks. It needed a deep conditioning, so I’d picked up a LOREAL Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner twin pack. Let me tell you, that stuff smells amazing and my hair felt great after that first washing – and with each washing since.

I also did a facial with a BioBelle fiber face mask. I was looking for masks that were non-GMO and Paraben free, and the ones I found were made from natural extracts. I’d found a bunch of different ones for this brand at Kohl’s. I had some Kohl’s cash, so paid $3.00 for each mask. When I do a facial, I turn on some nature sounds and lay on the bed for about 20 minutes listening to it with my eyes closed. I push all negative thoughts out of my mind, and concentrate on the positive.

I also gave myself a manicure and pedicure, and lotioned up real well. Then I went back to reading until I was ready for bed.

Come Tuesday, I was feeling great!

My second retreat day was much the same as the first. The only real difference was that after lunch I updated my bucket list notebooks. Together, these notebooks include more than 100 things I want to do in my lifetime. I was able to cross a few things off my list, and I always give an explanation of how I went about accomplishing each item.

Some of my bucket list items are things I know I can accomplish without too much work. Some are things that will happen with a little work or planning on my part. And others are so huge I may never get to do them – but they are on my list because one of the goals was to go a little wild and crazy adding things that are pretty far-fetched. It would be great to cross them off the list someday, but it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t.

That’s what my personal days were like during my vacation. I came away from each day feeling well-rested and pampered.

Personal Retreat Activity Ideas

• journaling
• yoga
• walks outside
• chatting with loved ones
• massages
• watching favorite movies
• swimming
• getting your hair done
• playing solitaire
• coloring
• listening to favorite music
• writing letters or thank-you notes
• crafting

As you can see, there are many things you can do during a personal retreat. And this is not even an exhaustive list. You can do pretty much anything you want, as long as it is a want and not a need. A.K.A. No Work! What will you do for your personal retreat?

Personal retreats can also last multiple days. How long do you want your to be?

Pamper Yourself

Click on the image for more ways to pamper yourself.

Activity: Take out your calendar and schedule your personal retreat! Then plan what you want to do so you can do any shopping that needs to be done in advance.

Enjoy your retreat!

Shannon