This past week I was on a yoga retreat in Tulum with the studio I practice with in Charleston. I booked this trip months and months ago then all of a sudden it was here and to be honest I sort of panicked feeling like it is a busy time of year, was worried about leaving my family for 5 days, etc etc. It’s really easy to find reasons to not do something instead of committing to yourself and going for it. Whatever that may be. We went to Amansala and again I went with my personal yoga studio but they do retreats there if you’re interested in looking into it!

Our week was filled with multiple workouts a day, ice baths, a sweat lodge, conversations, rest, fresh and delicious food, beautiful weather, laughs, days in the sunshine, naps and walks on the beach. It was literally perfect and I am so so glad that I went. Throughout the week, one of the retreat leaders had told us a line that he “lives by” – it went something like make easy choices and life gets hard, make hard choices and life gets easy. He had had many struggles in life and he elaborated with it’s easy to stay in bed, it’s easy to not go to work, it’s easy to fall behind, it’s easy to eat unhealthy but these “easy” choices lead to harder circumstances. On the other end, it’s hard to have tough conversations, it’s hard to put yourself out there, it’s hard to get into a healthy lifestyle routine, it’s hard to deal with trauma and shit in our lives. But making those hard choices and dealing with hard situations lead to an easier life. The more we share stories of how we feel, the struggles we face – the easier it is to live the life we want.

Last night, we had our “closing circle.” We all went around and talked about what this week meant to us and the word that kept coming up in my head is contentment. My body and mind and energy felt so calm and happy this week. I thinks something that comes with age and having bigger responsibilities is this anxiety that if we aren’t ahead, we are behind. There is always a long to-do list, we don’t have time for anything else, we are constantly weighing the back and forth of what’s worth it and what’s not. We feel safe in our bubbles, we don’t put ourselves out there in fear of being rejected, we isolate because it is “easier.” And one thing this week reminded me of, as I stood in a circle with 25 new friends and a few I already knew, was that the time is now. We are constantly waiting for someone to make the first move and we end up missing out on so much. Making the choice to go felt like a hard choice because it meant I felt guilty for taking myself a way from my family and investing in myself, but I am coming home knowing that was the best thing I did for myself this entire year.

So anyways, I just want to say that it’s really easy not to do things for yourself. To not take the risk because it means you get to stay in your comfort zone. But that only makes life harder for you. So book the trip, take the class, make a new friend – do the things that feel hard because it will be worth it. You can do hard things and you deserve those hard things, too.

I’m heading home ready for the rest of fall, the holidays and beyond. xoxo