Last week I took some time off and spent it in the Hunter Valley with my husband and friends at the simply wonderful Blackwattle Retreat. Our hosts, Amanda and Scott, were delightful and their property is well suited to a short, medium or long holiday. When next you’re considering Hunter Valley as a holiday destination, you really must consider staying at Blackwattle Retreat.
Whether it was the ambiance of the surrounding vineyards, or the zen of kangaroos and joeys enjoying the sunshine while munching morning grass shoots, I have returned with a more peaceful and accepting view of the world.
It had been too long between real breaks. Since finishing my Executive MBA in early December, I started a change management contract with a client which has kept me on the road almost constantly between Moranbah, Qld and Singleton, NSW.
In the last few weeks I had found myself more inclined to react rather than respond, and more prone to the negative impacts of frustration (a mainstay of change management). It was pure happenstance that created the opportunity for a short break, yet I reflect that it was precisely what was needed if I am to give my best to the assignment.
Caught in the machinations of change I was blinded to my building stress. A roadblock that I had removed kept reappearing, sometimes in a different guise, and the repeated removal process wore me down. My heart was discouraged. Others, although enabled to, weren’t acting. Processes which had been challenged and changed were reverting to prior position. White-anting was winning out by eroding a shared vision. And my ability to model the way was waning.
Today’s blog, long awaited by at least me and Geoff if not you too, is simply to remind each of us to check our own well-being regularly and make sure we do actually take some time out and away from the day-to-day for a while. It refreshes our soul, our attitudes, our bodies and minds.
And if you’re going to take a break, make it at Blackwattle Retreat.
More on the interesting stories of change at another time.
