I start a WhatsApp group and accidentally organise a retreat

Oct 12

2 min read

Updated: Oct 14

Sometimes, you have to be brave enough to start a WhatsApp group.

Rather than a busy group with 180 nonsense messages a day, but a group with a purpose.

I'd been feeling the need to spend some time with like-minded people. Other coaches who understand the work, enjoy a good conversation and are just as interested in people as I am.

I knew three other coaches, but not particularly well. They didn't all know each other, either. So I did what any sensible person would do. I put us all in a WhatsApp group and suggested we organise a little self-led retreat.

And they said yes!

Which is how I found myself spending a weekend in the Forest of Dean with three brilliant women, a loose plan and absolutely no PowerPoint presentations.

We walked. We talked. We ate. We talked while eating. There was probably some talking about what we'd eaten, too.

I practised a group forest therapy session with them. Ren introduced us to creative writing, and we each wrote a haiku. Harriet shared some HeartMath in our opening and closing circles. Serena told us about her menopause project and her own experiences.

We shared ideas, asked questions, celebrated successes, admitted to failures and championed each other's achievements. We tried things, learned things and admitted to the stuff we didn't know.

There was moaning. Obviously. We're human.

There was also a lot of laughter, some really good conversations and that lovely feeling of being around people who just get it.

No one was there to sell anything, impress anyone or prove they had their life perfectly sorted. We could talk about our work, our ideas, our doubts and the things we were figuring out, without needing to turn every conversation into a five-point action plan.

Our theme for the weekend was joy and ease.

Those words kept popping up in different conversations, until they became something of a running theme. And, rather wonderfully, we left feeling both joyful and easeful.

I came home thinking about how easy it is to spend our time looking after everyone else, meeting commitments, solving problems and trying to fit one more thing into the day.

And how rarely we give ourselves permission to do something simply because we need it, enjoy it or are curious about what might happen.

This weekend wasn't a complicated wellbeing intervention. There was no elaborate programme, no life-changing revelation required and no one sent us home with homework.

We just made the time.

We brought different experiences, ideas and perspectives into the same space, and gave ourselves permission to enjoy them.

I'm so glad I started that WhatsApp group.

And if anyone needs me, I'll be over here trying to work out how to get even more joy and ease into the family calendar.