What’s the real reason you go on retreat?

I used to think the glow I got on a yoga retreat was the secret to feeling happy with my life. If I could make enough money to go to a tropical place with white beaches, crystalline waters, yoga every day and healthy food, I would definitely be winning at life.

During the retreat, it worked. I felt peaceful, content, myself.

Then I would go home, and it would last maybe a week before I felt stressed and off-kilter again.

So I upped my game, and applied the same logic to yoga teacher trainings. I would do even MORE yoga, eat healthy food, dig deep to learn more about myself, cry a lot, and make amazing friends. I thought THAT glow would extend once I got home.

Then I would go home, and I’d get maybe a couple extra weeks of peace before the stress cycle would rinse and repeat.

I spent a lot of money for a glow that never lasted. Until I saw the truth.

I was treating those retreats and trainings as a source of happiness, looking for something outside of myself to make me happy. I struggled to bring the contentment home, and make it last.

Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE a good retreat! Give me all the delicious fresh fruit, yoga and beaches, and time off from my calendar. It is a legit way to roll. I love time off, and I make sure I have trips every few months to re-set and refresh.

But I was treating my retreats and trainings as Shiny Object Syndrome. They were still a distraction. They were still a way to look somewhere else for happiness. They were a temporary stop-gap that didn’t resolve feeling stressed about money, didn’t help me set boundaries in my relationships, nor helped me stay clear on the source of faith and trust every day.

When I finally stopped treating trips as a way to find happiness, when I started looking deeper at how I live day to day, when I started getting more connected with myself and my dreams, that’s when I got the life I wanted. That’s when I started to hit goal after goal, writing my first books, leaving jobs that didn’t serve me, launching my own business.

By the way, I didn’t do this alone. I needed help and guidance. Support made all the difference for me. It still does. With help, I started to see all the times I looked outside of myself for happiness. I realized how unreliable things I thought would make me happy — a new pair of earrings, a luxurious trip, other humans and their ups and downs — were for my daily source of happiness.

Are you ready to experience a daily, steady source of your own energy and joy? Did you miss out on my new course, Radical Change Mastery, and know it is time for you to have guidance and accountability? Do you want to talk more about how to end shiny object syndrome?

Let’s talk! Click here to book a 20-minute assessment, and connect about next steps.