4 Days Off the Grid: My First Retreat and Digital Detox Journey
I recently got back from my first-ever retreat and my heart feels so full. It was dubbed as the ‘Digital Detox Retreat’ put on by SoCal Wellness Retreats. The experience was transformational in ways I wasn’t expecting.
The purpose of the retreat had nothing to do with business, yet I’m walking away with a whole new perspective on the trajectory of my career & what this next phase of my life will look like. As a solopreneur, it’s really hard to turn work off. You’re constantly thinking about it. So, to have four days with zero work thoughts was freakin’ amazing!
Let’s start off with the location. The property was nestled within the mountains and it was breathtaking – front yard views of the sunset and a backyard full of mountains galore, magical sunrises, a pool, a hot tub, and multiple spots to relax and unwind.
Being an ocean person myself, I never felt called to the mountains but over the last year, I feel a deeper inner peace, calmness, and connection seeing those majestic mountain tops off in the distance. It changed me. Or maybe I should say it realigned me – from the inside-out.
What drew me to this particular retreat was first the digital detox component. I see no better way of connecting with other humans than when we remove the constant stimulus that’s in our world 24/7/365.
Secondly, I was drawn to the sampling of modalities we would experience in just a few days – whether that was breathwork, yoga, meditation, cold plunges, or tension release exercises etc. It gave everyone the chance to see what works (or doesn’t) for their own bodies. Some may have loved the meditation and hated the cold plunge. Others may have found the breathwork most beneficial but aren’t as interested in yoga.
For myself, I came away loving the cold plunge aspect. So much so, I jumped in the not-so-heated backyard pool for a cold plunge at sunrise the second day. It was beautifully peaceful and invigorating. I got out with a feeling of “I’m SO ready to absolutely crush a 2-3 hour deep work session right now!”
But with no devices means no work, and we had a breathwork session starting in 30 minutes, anyways. It was definitely hard for me to calm my body down because I was feeling so dang energized.
As time passes since I have returned to normal life, I can’t shake the feeling that all 13 of us were meant to connect and meet each other that third week of April 2024.
Whether that was a work of God, the Universe, a higher power or whatever you believe in, intertwining our paths was no coincidence. We were all meant to meet each other. I also believe that each of us got out of it exactly what we needed, at the exact right time we needed it.
It’s a really beautiful experience when you take a step back and see how close humans can connect in such a short time. It’s not about race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
We are all so much more similar beings than we are different. Sadly, that seems to be the opposite of what society at-large likes to portray.
If you’re on the fence about attending a retreat, whether removing devices from the equation or not, whether with SoCal Wellness or not, I highly recommend it!
