I try to escape at least once a year. To retreat intentionally and wholeheartedly is one of the greatest gifts we can offer our minds and bodies. If you are anything like me, you’ve likely dreamed of disappearing for a while, curling up with a book and devouring it cover to cover in one sitting or pressing pause on the relentless pendulum of work, school runs, meals and appointments…. just life. We long for a moment of stillness. A breath. A break from the noise.

About ten months ago I attended a five-day health and wellness retreat. It was long overdue. Having had twin boys in lockdown and homeschooling my older four children, I was spinning on a never-ending treadmill - jumping straight into a diploma, work, nursey and school runs. In an effort to keep it all together, making sure everything was running like a tight ship, I began running obsessively convinced that if I could stay physically strong, I could somehow keep all the threads of life neatly secure and woven, like a tightly secured bun. Eventually however, the physical and mental exhaustion caught up with me and it was time to stop and exhale.

Different seasons call for different forms of self-care. At this point in time I needed relaxation, nourishing homecooked-healthy food, some gentle exercises and sunrise walks and sleep. I needed to come back to myself.

If you are thinking about having some time out, it’s worth identifying what you want to achieve with your retreat. It’s a precious and sacred time, so it’s important to make the most of it.

The word retreat comes from the Latin retrāhere: to draw back. A conscious act of stepping away so that you can return to your life more fully aligned, more grounded and more you. It’s a chance to retreat from the world and from everyday stresses and lists and responsibilities. In retreating, we can finally hear ourselves. We create room to notice our thoughts, honour our desires, and consider the ideas that often get buried beneath everyday responsibilities. In our normal everyday routines, our headspace is taken up by so many day-to-day distractions, other people and commitments.

It’s astonishing how much clarity we can find when we make time to focus on nothing but ourselves. It’s something we scarcely do and it feels like a guilty pleasure. But it’s not indulgent, it’s an investment. It’s recognising the importance of ourselves in writing our own story.

Have you ever felt a whisper, an idea about change, a shift in direction - but never pursued it or made time for it? So often these quiet nudges get lost, we don’t give it importance and they are dismissed as fleeting thoughts. When the idea crosses our mind, we forget to capture it, nurture it or let it grow. It’s only if we have the time to focus on it, water it and watch it blossom that we can see its potential and ask ourselves ‘what am I going to do with this little golden nugget’?

We all hold creativity within us. When I retreat and create stillness, sparks fly – new ideas, fresh insight and direction. We need space to create that spark. Retreats offer us the rare chance to reclaim ownership of our lives, to make decisions based on our values, not everyone’s noise. When I retreat and have some time alone to cultivate this creativity, more often than not I have some new sparks, new ideas, new leads and new thoughts. Retreating gives me self-control and ownership. Too often, without even realising it we relinquish control and decision-making to others, diluting our ideas, ambitions and thoughts by not giving them our sole attention.

As we race toward the end of summer, September quietly waits with its familiar invitation: a fresh start. There is something about autumn – the back-to-school energy, the blank pages and the promise of change.  

So if you are looking to run away for a day and feeling the pull to pause then what better time than September? This is a gentle invitation to begin again, to question the patterns that have been set in your mind for so long. If life has felt like a whirlwind or if the motions are becoming monotonous, then it’s time to pause. You don’t need to wait for burnout to give yourself this kind of support. Clarity and energy often return when we create space for them.

Perhaps you are wondering when the perfect pause point is. A time to step back and ask yourself honestly:

• How am I doing?

• Who am I becoming?

• What story am I telling myself about where I’m headed next?

If these questions resonate and stir something in you then come and step into your soul. If you’re ready for a reset, come and rearrange your mind and rewrite your story.

Rewrite Your Story

Attenborough Nature Reserve

Wednesday September 17th 2025