Learn how to make your own wellness retreat!
Last Friday I went on a wellness retreat. The air smelled sweet and vibrant, I rested, and I spent some quality time pampering myself. I came “back” from my retreat, refreshed and relaxed and ready to face the world, which is kind of the point of retreats, right?
And yes, I’ll admit I didn’t leave my house to go on this awesome retreat. #homebodiesunite!
It’s funny, because I know the benefits of taking regular time for yourself. I write about how simple personal retreats are to DIY for yourself. And I’ll be the first to encourage and cheerlead you on to do your own.
It’s just that, I often forget to do them for me. Yep, it’s true. The to-do list keeps me busy all day, and then I crash on the couch to read in the evening. That counts as a “retreat”, right? Maybe?
I see my daughter happily drawing away in her sketchbook and feel a tinge of jealousy as I’m washing dishes. Seriously, who is jealous of their preschooler? Maybe I shouldn’t admit that. But she’s sooo creative, and I want to be creative too! Anywho . . .
We’ve had a lot of busyness going on this summer, so the whole retreat idea has been shelved for a while. It wasn’t until this week that I thought, “Okay, enough of this. I’m going to just do the thing.” I knew I’d love it once I scheduled it onto the calendar and I did. ::sigh:: I need to do these more often.
Anyway, here’s what I did for my wellness retreat. Feel free to pick and choose ideas for your own!
How I Made My Own Wellness Retreat
First things first: Planning. I let my husband know of my intention to have a wellness retreat on Friday night after he got home from work so he wasn’t surprised. He and my daughter had a meal waiting for them, and they got to play which is her favorite thing ever. (He’s such a good daddy/husband/guy. I hit the lotto big time!)
Anyway, after that detail, this is what I did:
Filled up my water bottle with delicious water. (I’m a water nerd.)
Made a scrumptious and huge green protein smoothie.
Made a hot cup of green tea. (What can I say, I was in a drinks only mood. Does the summer do that to you too? Or maybe I should admit I don’t really love-love to cook.)
Whipped up a foot scrub for my sad feet. (Here’s a similar recipe, though I didn’t use salt this time.)
Made an oatmeal mint scrub for my face
Got my facial steam bath ready
Put a couple of drops of Tangerine essential oil in my diffuser.
Got a book, my journal, and my bullet journal . . .
And headed to my retreat center, i.e. my bedroom. 🙂
You might be thinking, “Sheesh, that’s a LOT of work to make all of that stuff”, but it seriously took maybe 30 minutes total to make everything and carry it to my room. If that. I know my time is limited so I make the most of it. 😉
For the spa part, I
- Washed my face with homemade face wash,
- Exfoliated using the oatmeal mint scrub (it’s super gentle)
- Enjoyed a steam bath (for my face)
- Put on a matcha green tea mask, and
- Moisturized with a homemade serum.
I know, FANCY!
When I was finished with that, I scrubbed my feet with the sugar foot scrub, and hopped into bed with my book and journal.
Just taking this time to read and think was sooooo nice. Not to mention all the delicious spa smells wafting through my room. If I could have done a cartwheel to show my joy afterwards, I would have, but alas, I never perfected that. (Any other cartwheel dropouts out there?)
Anyway, I thought I’d share with you how I did this simple retreat to show that you CAN make these for yourself. And if you’re not the DIY type, you can purchase the elements you need beforehand and have them ready to go.
Have a lovely {and creative} day, friends!
