Several years ago, I met a woman at a networking event who said something that really made me think.
I mentioned I was hosting a retreat and she made it clear that she didn’t ever call anything a “retreat” because it implied losing. She followed up with, “After all, it’s the losing army that retreats. Successful people advance.”
Hmmm….interesting. Beyond her abrupt way of speaking, something about what she said didn’t land quite right to me. I couldn’t put a finger on it at the time, but I sure do now!
Things that always advance, always progress, only grow and never rest or retreat are unhealthy–even dangerous.
When cells grow and multiply without retreat we call that “Cancer.”
It’s a myth that we grow every single minute of every day.
We are part of nature and nature has cycles of advance AND retreat.
Plants grow in the spring and they go dormant in the winter.
The tides come in and go out.
Our first act in life is to breathe in and our last is to breathe out.
It is the divine order to advance AND retreat. I submit that we are only able to advance if we’ve retreated. Otherwise, it’s just motion.
As children, being able to retreat to the safety of our caregiver after exploring is how we learn about self-agency, consequences, and how the world works to support us.
When we are little children, we venture away from our Mom or caregiver and then come back to safety. We gradually increase the distance from three feet away when we’re 12 months old to many miles away by the time we leave home for college or a new career.
It’s important to be able to go back to the center. No intelligent person would mistake this retreat for losing or even losing ground. It’s simply a matter of the rhythm of life, an up and down, an inhale and an exhale.
I’m curious about what part of the cycle you’re in today Are you living in the inhale, the exhale–or are you holding your breath?
