I know I need to write about it but I don’t quite know where to start. I usually have all the words to say at the right moment but right now, I can hardly string a sentence together.
Look - this wasn’t intended to be a clickbait start to a post. It’s me being real with you: I’m finding it virtually impossible to sum up quite how amazing last week was. If I say it was one of the best weeks of my life, you might think I’d been on some exotic world cruise. Perhaps won the lottery. Married Prince Harry 2.0 (oh - don’t go there, Jess). None of the above. It was one of the simplest holidays I’d been on but yet the best. My heart is full. Let me try so very hard to explain why it was such a special week. Be warned — I have a lot of thoughts from this particular week. I’ve learnt a lot. I thought a lot. There are a lot of words in me - this is just the start.
We live in a world that glorifies busy. Already, having returned from {one of the{ thebestholidaysever, I’m finding myself uttering the cliche: ‘Well, back to real life with a bang’ and all equally nauseating variations. I find myself weirdly competing with my inner self: ‘How busy can you be upon returning from such a peaceful break?’. It is okay to come back from holiday and not feel the need to launch right back into that 100mph modern life. Life pulls us in so many different directions. Many of those directions we simply cannot avoid. Yet, if we gently use our brakes, we can go in those directions but at a much slower pace. We can learn to enjoy the journey a bit more. We’ll see the same sights. We’ll get to the same destinations. But we don’t need to be driving like we’re constantly late for everything. Not the thought I intended to share and start with but the joy of having a space for unedited writing. I bet you’re dying to know where on earth I’ve been? (No? Well, this is awkward.)
Mum and I went ‘up North’ to a craft retreat. Mum has been going for many years and has always come back buzzing. It was only a matter of time before I was going to gatecrash. Finally - I bagged myself a place and entered the wonderful world of The Retreat Cocoon. A totally unofficial name for the retreat but it perfectly sums up the experience. A group of women - many, friends after decades of a shared retreat experience - coming together with a common bond: crafts. We booked ourselves into a hotel for a week. One that was hidden at the top of a hill surrounded by lots of trees and many fields. Hired a conference room and set up individual work stations to spend each and every day simply crafting to our hearts content. No classes, no teachers, no set plan or requirement of what craft you ought to do. Simply, come along and craft. Can I let you into a teeny, weeny secret? I’d say 40% of the week was about crafting. Maybe even 30%? 20%? The retreat unintentionally became so much more than that. And this is why it was one of thebestholidaysever.
Every single woman that came to the retreat was different. Varying ages. Different interests. Individual personalities. This was the best bit. The joy of being a woman is that it isn’t a one size fits all. To be a woman is be unapologetically you. The juicy bit is when women come together to celebrate their differences. Because in our differences as women, there is so much that is the same. Don’t get me wrong - we didn’t gather with the itinerary of ‘lets celebrate our differences’. This observation was rarely articulated so formally. But it was noticeable and it was so beautiful to see. Women coming together. Sharing stories. Holding each other up. Showering each other with authentic praise. Offloading. Teaching new skills. Oh, and the belly laughter was so good for the soul. This retreat was truly a fine example of womanhood at its very best.
Why was it one of thebestholidaysever then? The grand flashy holidays are wonderful. There is plenty of beauty to be found in the big moments. Treasured memories can be found there. But sometimes - just sometimes - we need a reminder of how above everything else, at the core of life are relationships and the connections we make with those around us. People. That’s what makes the world go round. Sometimes us people get it wrong (just turn on the news to see when we really mess this up). This last week was a moment of people - women specifically - getting it very right. People are generally mostly good and women coming together is even better.
Until next time - because this is just the beginning of many, many thoughts
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