Last week I shared about some of the planning and lead-up into our No Work Work Retreat. Today I want to talk about how it actually went.

First of all, I want to note that we weren't calling it a No Work Work Retreat before the retreat. This was more something that only started to come to my awareness in the last few days before the retreat, and it wasn’t until afterwards that I reflected on the experience of the retreat and the feedback from the team and I realized how radical it was.

What was important and radical was that we, CCI, paid not just for that time for people to rest and recover, but we also took care of expenses and logistics in order for us to do no work.

Last week, I talked about vacationing and how our team retreat set me up for one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.

So, about that retreat - the “no work” work retreat. How did we plan it?

I just got back from a week’s vacation and I think I’ve discovered the secret to vacationing, at least for me right now.

And by “discovered” what I mean is that we have intentionally planned and designed and iterated on this over many years.

This year we tried something different, and the result is that I have returned from vacation feeling better than I have in a REALLY long time. I know we often think that vacation is for “us” and that we can’t afford to truly “step away” from our work.

However, I’m at the point where I don’t think I can afford NOT to.

We’ve been having a great discussion with one of our client groups about organizational, national and global turmoil, and what to do when we are sick and tired… and sick and tired of being sick and tired.

The idea of being obstinate in the face of overwhelming challenges and a bleak outlook came up.

And so we brainstormed ideas for “obstinate” healing and joy.

My computer has a screen saver that shows a dynamic array of all my favorite photos, which are mostly of my kids over the years. My 15 year old is now significantly taller than me, and my 12 year old soon will be.

Seeing their smiles and little bodies from past years brings me so much joy. These photos capture priceless memories that are some of my most treasured.

And yet at the same time, every memory hurts.

The support that other folks need that we don’t can feel unfair because that support is very visible, whereas the support that comes to us in our privileged identities is often invisible, especially when that advantage often comes in the form of a lack of obstacles and barriers.

We know there's a lot going on right now and something that has been coming up in our coaching sessions with executives, leaders and staff is stress and burnout. We’ve written about burnout before, deep into the worst of the pandemic, and revisited over a year later, the strategies (and science) are just as relevant today, even if our stressors have shifted.