Why My Creative Retreat Won’t Be Something Else You Have To ‘Optimise.’

Finding a creative mind is a process, you can’t suddenly switch off a mind that’s conditioned for efficiency, speed and stress. Many of us have spent our adult lives adapting to this way of living, and that can’t be undone in 7 days.

So I don’t promise you huge transformations on my creative retreat. You can’t expect to arrive home a totally different person, so if you’re looking for that, this isn’t for you. Instead I simply invite you to slow everything down, to begin to notice more, to take some time to remember that everything in your life isn’t an emergency. Just by doing this, you might notice something shifts.

So we start with REST. This is the reason why I take you to a silent forest. On arrival you feel a kind of decompression, your shoulders relax, jaw unclenches, a gentle shift into feeling the warm cocoon of nature surround you.

Previous guests all said this, just by arriving here there was a sense of relief.

There are slow mornings, easeful stretching, waking up the mind with a simple creative task. Then we explore what it means to think creatively, to be more open, free, curious and kind.

Slowly, you start to let go of your expectations, and some playfulness creeps in.  

What’s created then isn’t about seeking perfection, or getting validation for your great work. It doesn’t matter if anyone sees it at all, this is for you.

It can be messy. It can be an experiment, something that might fail, and that’s ok. It’s about how it feels to use your medium, how it interacts with your paper. You start to notice more, and little moments of flow happen as you use your hands to create.

Some part of your mind lights up, a part you haven’t used in a while.

Then the PLAY arrives, and that’s different for everyone. Climbing tree houses, games of hide and seek, magic tricks and stories by the fire.

What you might remember in this week is what children instinctively know, that living a life that’s worthwhile isn’t about optimisation. The opposite is what we crave, we want to slow down enough to be there.

Be there with people that matter.
Be there to notice the awe of nature.
Be there for moments of nothingness.
Be there for silliness and fun.
Be there to feel it all.

So instead of looking for a retreat that will optimise 7 days of your time, why not just come and waste time like this? Because if you’re anything like me, you’ll start to realise that by doing nothing, by creating without meaning, and by playing without a purpose, you’re actually remembering what you always knew as a child. That life is about these moments of wasting time.

If you’d like to give this a try, you can sign up here for our newsletter and receive a FREE taster of our creative retreat.

Come waste some time with us next year, on our creative retreat, learn more below.