I am taking the Hibernate workshop right now, and one of the possible activities was to do an "at-home retreat" for a day. With the semester looming (classes start Wednesday) and a long weekend with the kids, I decided to take the plunge and do it yesterday. The central idea: a screen-free day of quiet, creation, and connection.
The children were less than enthused at the prospect of giving up screens for an entire 24 hour period, to be sure. But they managed quite well in the end, and we had a fabulously hilarious game of "Life" and several rounds of Mad-libs that made us chuckle.
For me, the day brought much-needed quiet into my life. I went to a yoga class and took a walk, but mostly I hung out in the house reading or knitting by the fire (when not engaged in some small family activity). Funny, it was the first time over break that I got to read about 1/3 of a novel in one day. Break has been much, much busier than anticipated!
This week life resumes its usual hectic pace. But I am thinking that our family could do with a "screen-free retreat day" once a month--and you know, those long weekends come just about that often. We might just pull this off.
What does/would your home retreat look like?
For me, most days *are* home retreats. It's interesting to see it from the other direction. I am so incapable of spending day after day out in the world without severely compromising my health that a day at home is...just a day.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have a whole field trip day (and I can if I use enough medication) to go to an art museum, an IMAX about some sort of nature (weather, plants, ocean, but no 3-D), a really really nice lunch or early dinner, and maybe some music or other cultural event (as long as it's early and has chairs). Funny how differently we see things at different points in our lives.
Funny where life takes us, isn't it? You were always the more out-and-about adventurous gal, I was more timid and stay-at-home. But I must say, I'd love to join you for a day of museum and movies and food!
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