Take CHAARG of your life
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend the first ever Daytreat put on by CHAARG in Chicago. For those of you that are unfamiliar with CHAARG, like I was, it is so much more than just an organization on college campuses. CHAARG is now expanding and offers programs for grads. I love that this organization is all focused on living a healthy lifestyle, empowering women and connecting women to one another.
I should start off by saying that I love retreats and conferences. I think they are an awesome opportunity for self-reflection, education and I always leave feeling so energized and inspired to tackle my next project. This one day retreat was no different. One hundred women gathered on the 44th floor of a building right on Lake Michigan to connect with one another and spent the day talking about our fall intentions along with some workouts.
We started the morning with check-in where we picked up an iced coffee, our swag bags, and a S’well bottle. After that we set up yoga mats and kicked off the morning with a light meditation followed by vinyasa flow yoga. Then it was time for a live podcast where six women from the Chicago area shared their experiences, why they left the corporate world, how they knew what their purpose was and tips for anyone feeling overwhelmed or lost in their twenties. This is not to say that everyone is going to go out and quit their job to start their own business where they do yoga and eat smoothie bowls every day. Some people might which is awesome, but for others its really meant to serve as a reflection of what are your passions and is there a way to fold that into your everyday life. Are you doing something you love or just collecting a paycheck? How do you figure out what the best move is for you? Should you move? Should you find a company that you are more closely connected to its missions? All the questions that we ponder, but never know how to answer for ourselves.
After a quick lunch we changed into our outfits provided to us in the swag bag and met at Equinox fitness club where we all had a group assigned and would participate in three different classes. I did yin yoga, cycling and then booty burn. As someone who loves to workout I had a blast challenging myself and doing so many different types of classes. Then we sat down to journal about our fall intentions. We were provided list of questions that were categorized by mind, heart and body to full work through how we can put our intentions into actions. Then we broke off into small groups and had discussions about them. What a restorative activity and a perfect way to end such an empowering day.
For those of you that are curious my fall intention is courage. This probably sounds crazy right because I shared with you that I jumped out of a plane without being scared, but when I think of courage I mean that I want to have the courage to listen to my heart and walk through the doors that open up for me without hesitation and fear. One thing that I was reminded this weekend is that “your soul is rooting for you to have the courage to become who you really are.” I think that we can all use this reminder. No matter what decisions we make whether it is to move, cut people from our lives, get a new job it will all be ok. There is nobody else on this earth like you and you should have courage to embrace every bit of who you are.
