Self-Care: Staying at Glen Eyrie

Photo Credit: Not Mine

I am doing something for myself that I have literally never done before. I've dreamed of it, hoped to do it, but never actually acted on it. I am going to stay at Glen Eyrie Castle for three days.

All on my own. Alone, with no work obligations and next to no plans other than to just be at the Glen, walk the trails, and spend time reading (both Biblical and fictional), knitting, journaling, and listening to Orson Welles' radio plays in my beautiful Victorian room. 

You might consider my staying at Glen Eyrie to be Self Care: Step One. 

Glen Eyrie was the magnificent home of General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, and is a now a Christian retreat center owned by the Navigators. I stayed there once before for a writer's workshop, but found myself wishing, the entire time, that I was just there to stay at Glen Eyrie with no other plans or obligations. Now, I'm finally doing it.

Photo Credit: official Glen Eyrie website

The only plans I have are to take a guided tour of the castle, something I have also never done, but wanted to do. And I booked one of their afternoon teas. By the time I visit, my hope is that it will be their Winter Tea instead of the Fall Tea, but I will find either to be perfectly amiable.

It's been a long year. There's a lot that's happened, both personally and professionally. Enough to exhaust me to the point of burnout. A lot of change, and I don't adapt well to change if too much of it happens all at once.

Glen Eyrie is designed to help you unplug, so that is my plan. I will take my beautiful new camera with me for photographs, but I plan to leave the laptop at home. The phone is a necessity, for obvious reasons, but other than being available for family to reach me, and listening to classical music and my radio plays, I have no intention of being on it. 

What a wonderful relief it will be when I pass the gates and drive up to the property. I'm still a little bit away from my visit, but it's important to have something to look forward to in life. Little plans and rewards, all dependent on what suits each individual. My sister and I are very different when it comes to escape. She escapes to the house and loves spending time at home. While I do enjoy time at home, I prefer my time of respite to be away from home. With home comes obligations and duties. Away from home, it is just me, setting my own schedule and doing what I like.

This trait in myself has always felt selfish in the past, but I don't want to think of it that way anymore. There is nothing sinful in getting away for a few days to a Christian retreat center, but rather it is an act that might just serve to rejuvenate and revive me. Time away for reflection, time spent with the Lord and with myself, is important for me. Perhaps not for everyone, but for me, it is. To be fair, even if I were away for a few days at Disney, or some other destination that had nothing to do with my faith, that still wouldn't be considered sinful in my book. I'm not sure where I got the idea from that taking time for myself was selfish.

Ahh well, here I am, on the first step to recovery. Maybe I'll make this an annual plan. Or maybe I'll go somewhere entirely different. Who knows.