What do you do when the spark is gone? With work, with life, with love—with it all. When things just aren’t shining like they used to, aren’t syncing like they should, and life is just a lot harder than it needs to be. I signed up for a three-day wellness retreat this past weekend and learned quite rapidly exactly the key to reigniting your life. You look inside, you go within yourself, you get to the root of things.
It’s oh-so-easy to cover up that restless antsy feeling of not quite being happy with your life. For me, that meant shopping trips (all the retail therapy), an endlessly busy schedule, and a million activities and social engagements. So, I was left exhausted and too tired to really think about things, because that kind of thinking was uncomfortable and I wasn’t going to slow down for that.
But, finally, I decided to take the leap and step right into all the discomfort, to face my life head-on—to evaluate everything from my love life to my job, and to the reasons I loved writing in the first place.
There had to be an explanation as to why I couldn’t, for the life of me, find the inspiration to finish the last 70 pages of my second novel. The spark was gone, I knew that.
So I literally retreated to the northern Ontario Muskoka wilderness. I unpacked in a log cabin with others searching for the same thing I was: clarity, a reigniting.
Through yoga, hiking, meditation, cacao, baby goats (!), and journaling, a wild thought crept into my mind:
When you strip away everything that makes you, you, who are you? When you take away your house, your friends, family, job, and even your location, what’s left?
That is the question, I thought.
And slowly I began to see her. The strong, resilient, beautiful, sassy girl I had lost along the way somewhere. She was still there. Ah! I had missed her. She was who I was, I am.
I left the weekend, feeling a major energy shift. I had created some amazing new friendships, I had set goals and had a plan that fired me up. I was amped to tackle some exciting creative projects. I, importantly, had let go of the weights I’d been carrying for quite some damn freaking time.
So I guess what I’m saying is, the reigniting starts with you. It’s self-love. Investing in yourself. Listening to your body, but also your soul. And trusting—trusting that your inner wisdom knows what to do. Because it does. You may just find that the spark was still there, burning strong all along, waiting for you to notice.
Author: Christy Howitt
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: Christy Howitt lives in Waterloo, Ontario. Along with working on the sequel to her first novel, “Heartsand,” she’s always up for DIY home decor projects and is training for her second half marathon. She loves sharing the moments that inspire her on her blog. Stay-tuned for Lovefire, the second book in the Heartsand series, coming soon! Heartsand now available!
Link to social media and website: Instagram @christyhowitt | Twitter @ChristyHowitt | Snapchat @christy.howitt | http://www.christyhowitt.com
