Why you need to plan a getaway ASAP

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio

 I’ve just got back from a weekend away with a group of girlfriends and my cup is feeling so full and I felt really inspired to record an episode of the podcast chatting about why you need to plan a getaway or a retreat to re energize yourself and your creativity. So in  today’s episode, I’m going to talk a little bit about why I think you really need to have time to go and have some little getaways, some escapes, and importantly, how you can make it happen for yourself as well.

So the elephant in the room, obviously, I’m incredibly privileged that financially this is an option. And also that I have the support of my husband who takes the kids when I do go and have these little trips away. So I, first of all, want to recognize that privilege and also still try and come up with some ideas around how you can create space for yourself so that you too can have that time to focus on your self care.

But before we dive into that, I wanted to talk about some of the benefits of having a little getaway, having this escape and why it’s really helpful to you as a business owner.

So firstly, one of the biggest benefits of stepping out of day to day life is creativity. A lot of times what we do as business owners is we are sitting down in front of our computers, typing away. And we’re not really having a lot of time with, I guess, blank space, to come up with new ideas, to allow our minds to get excited. Every time that I step away from my normal life sitting here in front of the computer, even for example going to the beach, or going to the park, going somewhere different. When I’m in a new environment, my creativity is thriving. I know that I come up with new content ideas. I come up with new things that I want to do inside my business. And it actually also is a really great opportunity if you are doing your retreat, your getaway with other people to collaboratively come up with solutions. And again, when you’re in this kind of environment, this is how the opportunities come up to really think of solutions.

Now, this weekend, a way that I just went on wasn’t with business friends, it was with some of my mom friends, but even in that respect, just talking about some of the things that are going on for us and being able to bounce off other people, oh, my gosh, others can really have fresh energy, fresh ideas around how you can do things differently. And again, this is one of the reasons why I love business retreats is because you are getting other people’s eyeballs on your business. You can share things that are coming up for you and they can say, Hey, have you thought about doing this? I know for myself, being a coach, being a mentor, it’s so much easier to look in on other people’s challenges and come up with solutions than it is for your own. And this is one of the beautiful things about having, other minds coming in and, and looking at something they can give you fresh energy and ideas. And again, this is really where diversity plays a really strong part as well, having people from different backgrounds, different lived experiences. They’re going to have different viewpoints and different ideas, how you can tackle things that are going on for you. I truly believe that more heads are better.

The next really amazing thing that comes out of having an escape out of your day to day life is the connections.

When you are spending that amount of time together, you really can form deeper bonds. And I would absolutely say that’s been my experience from the weekend that I’ve just had away. And similarly, when I’ve gone on business retreats, building those much deeper connections, getting to know people on a really personal level. And, you know, when I think about some of the business friendships that I have, the opportunities that have presented themselves to me over the years, a lot of times it’s through those face to face connections that we’ve been able to build that level of trust and deeper understanding. I met on retreats, a lot of them actually, or, you know, workshops or networking events, things that are having that face to face level of, connection. And particularly if you have a team or you have people that report to you, if you can get your team together in person, it’s a really fantastic way to deepen communication in the team to improve morale. And again, to, to really bring everyone together as a group, as a community. I really do believe there’s so much power in, in having connections in a different environment. That’s not day to day life.

The next thing, next amazing thing that happens when you escape for, whether it’s a holiday day, or a weekend away, or a retreat is reduced stress.

I’m going to be honest before this weekend, I was starting to really not be in a great space with my anxiety. I was really feeling a lot of pressure, a lot of overwhelm, a lot of stress. And one of the beautiful things that we did on the weekend was that we got my yoga instructor, Donna shout out to Donna from Soul yoga and retreats, she’s here at the Gold Coast and she came and hosted a beautiful yoga session for us, a meditation and a sound healing. And it was just such a beautiful way to ground, to focus on mindfulness and just to really reduce those stress levels. And I can physically feel in my body that my stress levels have lowered from this weekend from this experience. And again you know, I’m going to talk to you a little bit later about how I’m hosting a retreat later in the year. I’m going to get the beautiful Donna to come and host a mindfulness session, a healing. A yoga session, a light yoga session again for that, because there’s just so much power in actually just carving out that time to really focus on self care because in our day to day lives, there’s so much overwhelm through being a business owner, everything else you’ve got going on in your life as well. And when you have the opportunity to slow down and stop, you remember how important you are and how important your self care is. And when you take the time and look after yourself, it will have not only the benefits on your mindset, on your mental health, but also on your actual physical body as well.

I know that some of the physical symptoms that I was experiencing before the weekend have drastically reduced from taking the time out to look after me. So there’s a ton of benefits to escaping.

Another one that I hadn’t mentioned is also planning. One of my fav things to do with Hubby is that we go and check into a hotel room. And it’s where we do our goal setting, our planning, both as a family, as individuals, but also for our businesses. A lot of times when you’re trying to squeeze some planning into your work day, you just don’t get the same level of all of those things that I’d mentioned, creativity, brainstorming, problem solving that you can, when you actually step out and look forward, be strategic.

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room. You might be listening and thinking, Clare, that sounds great, good for you that you are able to get away and go have a weekend away. But you know, what are some practical ways that you can actually make it happen?

Again, I said earlier that I’m really blessed that I’ve got a supportive partner, and I know that a lot of people don’t do that. Maybe you’re a single mom, but instead of thinking of all the reasons of why it can’t happen. Can you take a moment and think about how you would make it happen?

So can you ask your partner, Hey, can I have some, some time out? Maybe you want to have a getaway on your own. Maybe you want to go on a business retreat. Maybe you just want to get a couple of girlfriends together. If you do have a partner and you’ve got kids you know, have a chat about how that could work. You could ask family members. And I know a lot of times I’ve done this activity with clients of mine and they say, I don’t have anyone, but then when they step back, they go, actually, I’ve got a cousin who’s, you know, really trustworthy and she’s single and she might actually be able to, I could ask her and maybe people will say no, but you can ask the question. Maybe you’ve got friends that you could do a trade for. I know that it’s one of the things that I’m starting to do with my mom group that we might say, Hey, could you do this drop off or you know, take the kids for a couple of hours and then you can return the favor for them. Really have a think about, you know, is there someone that you do trust? That, you know, if kids are part of the equation or pets, maybe you’ve got animals and you’re like, I can’t leave them, you know, really just take a moment and think, is there anyone who I could leave them with? We do a lot of, pet sitting for Friends and family members. We no longer have pets ourself. And at this point in time, I am not really wanting to get a pet, but we do love animals and being able to help other people out as well. So have a think, is there anyone in your world who might be available to help look after your kids or your fur babies?

Now let’s talk about the next component of this, which is money, the money, honey, right. Now there is a very fine balance between investment and the very, you know, practical ways of us being able to afford things.

So for me, self care is incredibly important. I hold space for a lot of people. I am a president of a not for profit organization, I have a family and you know, holds a lot of the mental load for that, I’ve got my business, I support my husband in his business. I’ve got my clients that I am there holding space for my friends, my family. I’m one of five kids. There’s always things unfolding in my family. So when there’s a lot going on it’s really, really important to look after you. And like I said, recently, I had a bit of a, a wake up call. Some of the physical symptoms that I was experiencing, I’m like, Whoa, I need to really spend some time and look after me, if I’m going to continue to help and support people in all these different areas of my life. So for me, it’s a priority. I really believe that any business owner, even if you’re not a business owner, looking after yourself should be very important, but money doesn’t always have to look like this endless pit of like, yeah, sure, Clare, I can just go on a retreat that’s cost a couple of thousand dollars. I totally get and appreciate that. But again, I challenge you to think about the, how, how could I make this happen? When I was growing up, we had very little money. If you’ve listened to the podcast before, you will know that I’m, you know, I’m one of five kids. My parents did not have, you know high paying jobs, but my mom still used to go and have getaways with her girlfriends. I do remember that. Even though my family didn’t go on holidays, my mom, bless her, she, you know, did go and have, have these times to get away. There are ways that you can, you know, play around with what this looks like.

For example, can you go camping? I’ve gone camping with my girlfriends a couple of times. Like that’s a really low cost way of having a getaway. Can you share? And that’s what we did on this weekend away. Quite a few of the girls were sharing bedrooms to, to cut back on costs. Getting a bigger house as well is really a way that you can economize on trips like this. And we, you know, we just cooked all of our food. We stayed in the house, so we weren’t sort of eating out and having that extra expense there as well. But play around with what that could look like. You know, one of the things that we came up with on this trip is that we’re going to go down… One of our friends has a house, in Melbourne, and we’re going to go and stay at her house so that we don’t have to pay for accommodation next time.

So can you get a bit creative with what this might look like? Or perhaps you do have the money and you just haven’t prioritized spending money in this way. I think I’ve shared on the podcast several times before I once spent $10, 000 on a retreat that I went on. It was with a mentor that I really, really, really wanted to learn from. I knew the group of people in that room would just be absolutely incredible. And there was a payment plan. So I put down my first payment on it and I was like, I am going to make this happen. And my gosh, I’m so glad that I did, because I’m now speaking on stage… One of the people I met at that retreat, I’m also going on a retreat with a group of them again. We’ve connected and stayed in touch over the years. So, this is the power of that in person connection. The relationships that you build really do determine how you go in business.

So think about that, like balancing it. I’m certainly not one of those people who’s like suggesting that you should do what I did, which is lean into an investment in a big way. I probably have a bigger appetite for risk than a lot of people. But figure that out, figure out what is that balance between how much you do want to lean in and yeah, and, and coming up with some ideas of how you can make it work.

If you are listening to all of this and you are thinking, Oh my gosh, Clare, this sounds amazing. I definitely want to plan a trip and maybe you’re wanting to do it on the business front I’d love to invite you to come along to a retreat that I’m hosting in November. It’s a very intimate retreat this one, there’s only eight people maximum coming. It’s going to be a very intimate retreat. As I said, it’s with my beautiful yoga instructor, Donna. She’s going to be hosting some, some healings and yoga sessions, but it’s not just about hanging out. This is actually going to be a really productive time where we are focusing on looking forward for your business and creating your plan for the 12 months to come. And because I am aware that, you know, money is, it can be a challenge for some people at the moment. I am going to have a payment plan, so it’s not until November, but if you are thinking, Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. You can do what I did for my retreat, start paying it off sooner rather than later. It’s going to be the most beautiful thing, beautiful, immersive couple of days the landing page, things aren’t ready for it yet. But if you want to find out more, drop me a DM on Instagram. I’m at @clare_wood_coach. And just drop me a DM and I can share a little bit about what that looks like, but I’m so excited for this. As I said, my cup is feeling so full after a little weekend away. I’m already looking forward to my next retreat getaway, which is happening next month. I’m so excited about that. And I hope this has inspired you to carve out some time for you. Whether it’s a solo retreat, a holiday, maybe it’s even just, you know, going to a park, going for a bushwalk, going down the beach and just carving out some time for you. Because you are important.

Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode of the podcast. I appreciate you so much. And it’s such an honor to be able to chat to you on the regular. So have a fabulous week and I’ll talk to you again next week.

* Transcript created by AI – may contain errors or omissions from original podcast audio