A Gentle Three-Day Solo Retreat for the Burned-Out Mom Who Does Too Much
Lets take a pause and look at some trees
If you’re a mom who holds a lot — schedules, emotions, invisible labor, emotional labor, and other people’s needs — you may not feel dramatically burned out. You may just feel… tired. A low-grade exhaustion that never quite lifts. A sense that you’re always managing, holding, anticipating.
This short three-day solo retreat is an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with yourself beneath the doing. It’s not about fixing your life or creating a perfect plan. It’s about softening enough to hear what your body and spirit are already asking for.
You can do this retreat at home, during naps, early mornings, or a weekend with space. All you need is a notebook, a pen, and permission to move slowly.
Before You Begin: Reflecting on the Previous Year or Life Cycle
Before we look forward, it helps to gently acknowledge what you’re carrying from the year or season behind you. This isn’t about grading yourself — it’s about honoring and reflecting on what has already happened.
Optional pre-retreat reflections:
What did this past year or life cycle ask of me?
What am I proud of surviving, navigating, or learning?
What habits, roles, or expectations feel complete — even if I’m not sure what comes next?
Take a few notes. You don’t need answers — just honesty.
Day 1 — Release
Theme: Letting the pressure melt away. Making room.
Today is about naming what’s heavy so you don’t have to keep carrying it unconsciously.
Journaling Prompts:
What am I carrying right now that feels too heavy?
Where in my life am I saying yes when my whole body is asking for no?
What would it feel like — physically and emotionally — to put down even one of these burdens?
As you write, notice any words that feel like relief: clear, soften, enough, rest, untangle.
Slow Moves practice suggestion: A few minutes of long exhales, legs up the wall, or a gentle forward fold. Let gravity help you release.
Day 2 — Remember
Theme: Returning to who you are beneath the roles.
This day invites you to reconnect with the part of you that existed before constant responsibility — the part that still lives inside you.
Journaling Prompts:
Who was I before I became responsible for so much?
What do I miss about myself that I want to invite back?
What values, qualities, or ways of being feel like home to me?
Notice words that feel grounding or alive: presence, joy, ease, curiosity, flow, truth.
Slow Moves practice suggestion: Gentle spinal waves, intuitive stretching, or a slow walk without tracking steps or pace.
Day 3 — Reclaim
Theme: Choosing the energy you want to live from.
Today is about intention — not in a productivity sense, but in an energetic one.
Journaling Prompts:
What do I want more of in this next season of life? (Focus on feelings, rhythms, and states of being.)
If my life were shaped around how I want to feel, what might change?
What is one small, sustainable shift that supports the woman I’m becoming?
Finding Your One-Word Vision for the Year Ahead
Now, re-read everything you’ve written over the past three days.
Circle or highlight:
Words that repeat
Feelings that feel nourishing
Qualities that feel supportive rather than demanding
Then ask yourself:
What single word could gently guide me through the next year or life cycle?
What word feels like an anchor rather than a goal?
Examples might include soften, spacious, rooted, steady, receptive, embodied, enough — but let your word find you.
Write it at the top of a fresh page. Sit with it. Notice how your body responds.
My word for my 48th year of life is Curiosity.
Carrying the Retreat Energy Into Daily Life
A retreat doesn’t end when the journaling stops. The real practice is weaving its essence into ordinary days.
Gentle reminders for integration:
Place your one word somewhere visible — a note in your planner, your phone lock screen, your bathroom mirror.
When faced with a decision, ask: Does this support my word? My values?
Choose one daily ritual (breathing, stretching, tea, walking) that embodies your word.
Let your word guide what you say no to as much as what you say yes to.
Remember: this is not about doing more. It’s about living from a different place.
A Final Note
If you’re tired, it doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’ve been giving.
This retreat is a reminder that you are allowed to receive your own care, to move slowly, and to shape your life around what truly sustains you.
Return to these pages anytime you feel yourself drifting back into overdoing. Your word will be waiting.