Outdoor retreat

“The real journey of discovery is not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes” Marcel Proulx

Adventure is defined as “a remarkable occurrence; an exciting and daring experience” and someone who has a sense of adventure is said to have the feeling that they want to have new and exciting experiences. Here I was just a few months ago, newly turned 30, feeling very happy and content with what my life looked like, with a wonderful partner and a son who brings out the best in me (well, most of the time), certainly not wanting to change anything about what it was, but craving something more. I started to think about how I wanted to define myself. How I wanted others to see me and how I wanted to be remembered one day, long after I am gone. I want to be seen as someone who takes chances, who is adventurous, who has fun. And that’s what I need to build on right now.

I recently signed up for an outdoor evening retreat. Probably not something I would have done a year ago, taking time for myself has always been a balancing act where I tend to do well during some periods and other times it’s like I’ve forgotten how to. Just because I help people every day with how to manage their stress, build self-care in their lives and make hard decisions and health changes, doesn’t mean I have it all figured out. This is all a journey but some guiding questions which I will introduce throughout this blog have helped me when I was stuck, to come back to what I needed to keep moving forward, to make hard decisions and to create change.

But coming back to this outdoor adventure I was about to embark on – I am always nervous about being in a crowd of people I don’t know and I was about to jump into a full cardio uphill snowshoeing experience and I had never even tried on snowshoes. We arrived at Gatineau Park and it was snowing lightly, the trees covered in sparkly white snow. Snowshoeing felt easy at first – that was until we began going uphill which is what most of the one-hour hike felt like. My heart was beating so fast from the workout – but the rush of it was exhilarating.

Once we got through the trees and the hills, we arrived at this beautiful open field of snow. A small cabin was just a few metres away. The cabin was warm with the fire burning brightly and my best memory from the whole experience was looking out the glass windows taking up one whole wall of the cabin, where you could see the snow falling and just take it all in. We enjoyed an amazing meal together of vegan chili and did a bit of yoga and meditation. Since I discovered meditation and mindfulness, I began to see things I couldn’t see before. We often walk through the world without even being conscious of our surroundings. I’m glad I could experience the beauty of what was around me, instead of being deep in my thoughts or anxious about something.

The hike back felt a lot quicker and a bit less strenuous since it was mostly downhill. Going home I had no regrets about taking chances and doing something I’ve never done before – it made me feel so alive and just lit more of a fire in me to keep building on an adventurous life.

How do you want to define yourself?