Maybe It’s Time to Step Away (here’s how)

Throughout my twenties and thirties when my chest tightened from overwork and I could feel overwhelm lapping at my door, I would increase my work pace, thinking, “I just need to move faster and get more done.” Much of this stemmed from an entrenched, but misguided belief that my worth was directly tied to my productivity.

Fast forward twenty-five years. Today, one of my favorite personal mantras is, “From stillness, comes discernment,” and I regularly step away from my business and life every 90 days. If I don’t pause and remove myself from my daily life to ask the hard questions (i.e. What makes me come alive? What is my life trying to tell me? What is the best use of my energy?), I find myself living a robotic life that is joyless and rote. Watch a 3 min. video on why and how I create time for personal retreats below.

Hands down, I believe these “giant pauses” are one of the best investments you can make in yourself. Want more plus tips for how to schedule time for your retreat? Read 5 Reasons to Take a Retreat (+ tips for getting started).

Stephen Cope, MSW, author and director of Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living, where I have been teaching for 18 years, says retreats don’t change our lives as much as they change where we stand in relationship to our lives—and our capacity to see the hidden possibilities there.

WANT SUPPORT FOR PRIORITIZING SELF-CARE? HERE ARE A FEW OPPORTUNITIES:?

• HOORAY, REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! April 25, 2025 ~ Tending Your Creative Fire: A North Carolina Women’s Retreat ~ 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Lake Logan Conference Center, Canton, NC. Learn more/register here.
• NOW AVAILABLE 24/7 AS A DOWNLOAD~ SOLACE: A Deep Rest Winter Retreat ~? A 2.5 hour virtual retreat experience with Renee and soulful women from across the US (includes a year-end reflection, meditation, poetry, Yoga Nidra deep relaxation, song and tips for befriending winter). Enjoy your recording all year long.?Only $49.??Learn more/register.
• NEW Secrets to Facilitating Life-Changing Women’s Groups/Retreats in Uncertain Times?~ an online, self-paced training course. Would you like to empower women in your area in 2025 through facilitating women’s groups/retreats? Based on Renee’s 30+ years experience training 450+ facilitators and teaching at world-renowned retreat centers like Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, this supportive, empowering on-demand video course offers everything you need to start facilitating women’s circles and retreats. Only $195.?Learn more.
• Schedule me to speak in 2025-26.?Did you know my primary work is speaking professionally at national/regional conferences, employee events and to companies/organizations worldwide? I love weaving neuroscience, life balance strategies, mindfulness & resiliency practices to create unforgettable workshops & presentations that help people feel more creative, focused, resourced and alive. Learn more about my?speaking here.
• Wild Souls Nature Adventures?(based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC): authentic movement classes, community song circles, full moon hikes, meditation/resiliency workshops, women’s circles & more. Have me design a custom experience for your team/friends.?Join us Sunday, Jan. 26th for our Wild Souls Authentic Movement Classes near Asheville, NC.??Learn more.

Subscribe?here?to?Live Inside Out,?a weekly blog written by mindfulness coach/author/speaker and self-care evangelist Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, Renee has been facilitating high-impact, interactive workshops for Fortune 500 companies, national nonprofits/conferences and organizations/teams worldwide for 25 years. Her work has appeared in?The New York Times, Fast Company, Good Housekeeping, US News & World Report, AARP, Spirituality & Health?and more. She and her team have certified more than 450 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups/retreats based on her pioneering self-care curriculum. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning?The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life.?Renee and her husband live in Western North Carolina and they have one son in New York City. Her latest venture is?Wild Souls Nature Adventures.?More on Renee?here.