The other day I decided that I need to go on a personal retreat. It feels like there's a ton of exterior noise preventing me from becoming my best self, which is a phrase that must be trademarked by Oprah. There's so much to do, so much noise, and so much measuring up that everything feels chaotic, complicated, and pretty defeating. This list doesn't include pop up ads or Twitter parties, both of which are pushing me over the edge. It's times like these when I want to give almost everyone the bird.
Today is the first day in forever that I've been able to stay
home, without appointments, errands or kids' activities calling
me away, so I optimistically thought this was my day, but I
forgot to clear that with the dog, who went crazy. She barked at
the wind all morning, she wanted out, she wanted in, again and
again, she was caught off guard by the gardener, so then she
overcompensated by barking at everything, for hours, despite my
reassurance, yelling, and use of a Nerf gun. Much like when my
kids were babies, just when I thought I'd snap, the dog finally
took a nap and let me have a little bit of the day/sanity back.
There are frequent mountain lion sightings in our area, but
none of them ever come into our yard hungry.
But back to the retreat...I told this idea to a friend last
week and she responded that she has a friend who does this
quarterly. Four times a year, she heads to the Ritz or other
nice destinations by herself. This week, I told another
friend, and she too knows someone who does the same thing.
Clearly these people are onto something. I quickly started
looking at Groupon for nearby vacation deals that I could use
toward a retreat, but everything either looked like it would
be fun for the kids, or was a place I'd rather go with Kevin.
Not to mention, the next two months are totally slammed,
which is why I need a retreat, but the stress of trying to
get away alone would only make things worse. I should have
come up with idea a month ago. I need to write myself a note
so that I don't forget it.
The barking is back. Serenity now!
