The Best Investment That Any Professional Can Make For Themselves

When was the last time you took the time to retreat from your day-to-day, all in order to rediscover the energy and vitality that you know flows deep within? Our Urban Retreat is exactly the moment for this. With our next date coming up on Sunday March 3rd, we’ve taken the chance to highlight everything this day of inspiration, wellness, and knowledge entails.

To learn more about the experience firsthand, we sat down with Tracey Dwyer, a Executive Manager at Universal Media Co. in Melbourne, who attended our last Urban Retreat. Tracey has kindly shared with us some insight into her own personal experience, how this helped her professionally, and the importance of investing in yourself, no matter what stage you’re at in your career.

Read on, to learn more about why Urban Retreat is a good step to have an effect on your current mindset, and future career:

Welcome Tracey, it was so great to host you at Urban Retreat recently! Tell us a little bit about your work life, and what a day-to-day generally looks like for you.

In my day job I work on building commercial relationships and client media solutions for the Wellbeing Media group. It is a very intense role requiring a healthy mental hard hat! My day-to-day is  made up of planning, phone calls, meetings with agencies, marketing and brand managers, account management and proposals to manage a pipeline for business development. I always begin the day listening to a podcast / video clip etc. in my area of work in both business development and wellbeing.  I believe this helps frame the day for success. Outside of work, I am studying the same topic, amongst others, to help make a positive impact on others lives, and am coaching and mentoring on a voluntary basis about twice a month.

We’d love to know what initially inspired you to book a day for yourself at Urban Retreat?

I love Amanda’s work and the Wellineux brand, so I knew it would be a calm and exploratory experience. I loved the idea of escaping for the day and just focusing on indulgence into one of the most important areas of our lives: self love.

In the craziness of life, this was an opportunity for me to take time out, breath, pause and have a look at all areas of my personal wellbeing.

Take us through the day, what did it involve? And what was your favourite takeaway from the day?

The day began with a brief yoga class.  This was extremely relaxing and really helped set the day up with a quiet mind.

This was followed by a bunch of activities led by Amanda.  These activities were aimed at connecting and exploring ourselves, and where we are at in our lives. This helped us reconnect with our values and visions and really focusing on ‘me’.

Activities included mandala colouring which was a mindfulness activity allowing thoughts to flow through the mind as we chose colours and patterns. I loved this activity!

There was some group sharing which is always great to hear others journey etc. I always find this kind of activity stimulates empathy and gratitude, two key elements of flourishing well-being.

We also created a collage representing a vision board of our hopes and dreams, values and inspirations.  This really helped clarify the absolute passions and drivers in my life.

Following a beautiful healthy lunch, there was some more group discussion and activity and then the afternoon concluded with some pampering with a choice of treats from the spa venue.

There was no one highlight for me, I loved it all!

In the craziness of life, this was an opportunity for me to take time out, breath, pause and have a look at all areas of my personal wellbeing.

What techniques did you learn that you could see yourself using? Were there any that surprised that you, and wish you knew earlier?

At that point, I was not familiar with the mandala colouring, and I soon looked into the benefits of adult colouring and have used it frequently in gifting and in a classroom setting.

Let’s talk about your first day back at work after Urban Retreat. Did you notice any changes in the way you think, act, or feel?

No doubt! Taking time out for a whole day focused entirely on yourself and your wellbeing had an impact.  I think for me, it brought energy to the thoughts around my purpose. Because I am immersed in wellbeing in my work and personal life, it was a chance to focus on one area.

I see Wellness and Mindfulness as a cog in the Wheel of Life for all humans. And all cogs in the wheel contribute to our overall satisfaction with life and wellbeing.

As a leader, have you noticed any benefits on-flowing to others? If so, what?

I am not in a leadership role, however sharing the Urban Retreat experience with my colleagues certainly created positive emotion and  simulated conversation around purpose.

What job level (ie. team leader, CEO, business owner, junior) do you see Urban Retreat as benefiting the most? Why so?  

I see Urban Retreat for all levels.  As a training coach, I am learning that one’s job ladder rung doesn’t dictate a level of personal growth or wellbeing to match.  Everybody benefits from self focus and mindfulness and the same activities can impact people in many different ways.

eg. someone in middle management may walk away from an Urban Retreat and be stimulated to question their career because they visited their values and purpose through the activities and realised they were not aligned. Boom!

A CEO could partake in an Urban Retreat and learn that self love and wellbeing activities can create more balance in daily work life and act as a form of therapy from an intense job role.  

Bringing Mindfulness into the workplace demonstrates a company’s commitment to valuing its staff, which can have immediate effect on mindset, and happier people.

As a business leader, why do you place value in investing in Wellness and Mindfulness Practice?

I see Wellness and Mindfulness as a cog in the Wheel of Life for all humans. And all cogs in the wheel contribute to our overall satisfaction with life and wellbeing.

Wellness and Mindfulness is a crucial part of our health in order to flourish as a human.  Mindfulness activities allows us to be still in the present and learn to just be without the worry of yesterday or anxiety of future. . This leads to positive emotion which is an emotion we need to deliberately  train our brain in given it is wired for negative.

Work is part of our lives, a huge part of our lives, so it is vital that we are flourishing in the workplace too, not just outside of work.  Bringing Mindfulness into the workplace demonstrates a company’s commitment to valuing its staff, which can have immediate effect on mindset, and happier people. There is evidence that the impact of healthy wellbeing  in the workplace contributes to increased work productivity.

Ready to be a part of a supportive community at our Urban Retreat on Sunday March 3rd? Take some time, and hit that refresh button. Join us for a day of self-discovery, yoga, treatments, creativity workshops, mindfulness techniques, nourishing food, intention setting + more. Learn more, and grab tickets now.