5 Signs You Should Take a Creative Retreat Now
Today, let’s explore 5 signs you need a creative retreat.
Now, when I’m talking about a creative retreat, I’m not necessarily suggesting that you take a week off and you leave your family and fly to Bali and have a complete break, (by all means, do that if you can!) but if you can’t, then you can make a creative retreat last for anything from half an hour to a day or a weekend.
Video Transcript: 5 Signs You Should Take a Creative Retreat Now
By doing so and giving yourself permission to take a little bit of time out from the busyness of day to day life, you’ll find your well of inspiration, your inspiration in life in general, is rekindled.
Now let’s dive into those 5 you could need a creative retreat in your life now.
#1. Feeling Burnt Out
Number one is you’re simply feeling burnt out. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends for so long and you are feeling like “Oh my goodness, I’m just exhausted.”
Well funnily enough, giving yourself permission to maybe lie in bed and read a book that’s counted as a creative retreat could really nurture you and bring you back to life again.
#2. Your Fuse is Short
So, this is a signal for me that I need some creativity in my life, and that’s when people bug the heck out of you.
If all over sudden little requests from people, everyday normal requests start to make you feel irritated, it’s quite possible you need to step back and give yourself a little bit of nurturing time in your creative cave or in your studio. Or by taking yourself for a walk so you can go and just check out what’s happening in the gardens of your neighbours.
#3. You’re Feeling Lack-lustre
Perhaps you’re feeling lacklustre in your life.
The sparkle’s gone.
You don’t notice the colours on the trees changing, you don’t notice … By the way that’s one of the things that I love, love, love hearing from people who come to the studio for a workshop or have done my online courses, when they find after they’ve started to paint, their eye is attracted to the light in everyday life. They notice how things all of a sudden start to feel illuminated and they’re noticing colours and they’re noticing shapes and forms and textures.
That can happen purely by giving yourself an hour just to sit down and push some paint around on a canvas.
You might find you’re noticing things differently in your life after that. So, if you’re feeling lacklustre, you need a creative retreat.
#4. Which Path to Take?
Perhaps you’re facing at crossroads in your life. It’s time to make a decision, perhaps about a relationship or in your work or in your health or anything where you feel like you’re facing at crossroads.
It can be a really lovely time to give yourself permission to tune into your heart and listen to what is coming up for you.
That’s when I found having a creative retreat is totally invaluable because it’s in those moments that we really, really need to pay attention to that still, quiet soft inner whisper in our heart.
By embarking on some kind of creative activity, whether it’s making wisdom cards by doing some collaging and some painting, or it’s even putting on some music and having a dance. That’s when I’ve found I can really start to be authentic with my desires and move in the direction of my creative dreams.
#5. Connection to the Sacred
Now the fifth, and the final time I’ve come up with ( and I’m sure there’s plenty more) when you need a creative retreat, is if you’re looking to rekindle your spiritual life.
Perhaps you’re longing to feel that connection to something bigger than yourself or feel more connected with everything around you.
I found honing in and slowing down enough to spend some time with my creativity is a really direct pathway into rekindling my connection with what I call the Sacred.
Those are the 5 signs I can think of. Maybe you can think of some more! If so please leave them in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you and I’m hoping that if you’re at any of those stages, this video might inspire you to take a little moment, hopefully today. If not today, schedule some time in for the weekend to spend a little bit of time doing something creative, whatever it is that lights you up.
Be kind to yourself, nurture your creativity and I’ll see you next time. Bye for now.
With love,
Nicola xx
Did you miss last week’s post? Check it out here: How to Begin a Creative Project When You’re Worried You’ll Mess it Up