SOUL WELLNESS DESTINATIONS

 

For the ultimate Dolly Parton experience, take a look at the hotel's 9 to 5 Suite. Inspired by the Queen of Country herself, this over-the-top retreat features pink feathers, disco-ball ceilings, plush furnishings, and a separate living room where you can settle in for a long-overdue catch-up session. It's glamorous, a little outrageous, and completely Nashville.

Imagine: Four days of ocean air, bodywork, meaningful conversation, and a little time to simply be.

The word retreat can mean many different things. Some retreats bring people together for a shared experience, while others offer the opportunity to spend intentional time alone. Neither approach is better than the other—they simply serve different purposes. Understanding the difference can help you choose the experience that's right for you.

A personal retreat is intentional time away that you create for yourself. Whether it's a long weekend at a charming inn, a boutique hotel by the ocean, a cozy cabin in the mountains, or another place that helps you breathe a little deeper, the purpose isn't simply to take a vacation—it's to create the space to reconnect with yourself.

When life starts to get a little quieter, it’s natural to wonder, What’s next for me? But that question can also feel like you’re supposed to have an answer—a plan, a purpose, some big idea for what comes next. Instead, try asking yourself a few questions that leave a little more room for curiosity. You may not know exactly what’s next yet, but you can start exploring what’s possible.

Now it’s time to put a little structure around your personal retreat—but keep it simple. A little thoughtful planning before you leave means less time figuring things out once you arrive and more time actually enjoying your retreat. The goal isn’t a packed itinerary; it’s to take care of enough ahead of time that you can relax, be present and leave plenty of room for the experience to unfold.

You've checked in with yourself. You've thought about what you're craving and how you want your time away to feel. Now comes one of the most fun parts of planning a personal retreat: Where should you go? The right destination isn't necessarily the place at the top of everyone's travel list or the wellness resort you've been seeing all over Instagram. It's the place that supports the kind of experience you want to create for yourself.

Before choosing where to go or what you'll do when you get there, give yourself permission to daydream a little. Imagine you've already arrived. Your regular routine is somewhere else for a few days, there's nowhere else you're supposed to be and this time belongs to you. How do you want your personal retreat to feel?

But before you choose the destination, book a hotel or start thinking about what you'll do while you're away, there's a more important place to begin. With you and what you NEED at the time. Maybe you need rest. Maybe you need something that makes you feel excited again. You may be craving creativity, adventure, inspiration or simply enough quiet to hear your own thoughts. And sometimes, you honestly don't know what you need. That's okay too.

Feeling tired, but not in a physical way? Does your everyday life feel boring, blah or restless? These may be signs that your soul is craving something different.....

Sometimes the first sign you may need time away isn’t exhaustion, burnout or a desperate need to get away. Sometimes it’s simply a quiet thought that keeps returning: I want more. More inspiration. More excitement. More time that feels like yours. More connection to the parts of yourself that may have been sitting quietly in the background for years.

Isn’t a personal retreat basically just a solo vacation? Well, not exactly.

My love of retreats didn't begin with a plane ticket, a beautiful hotel or even a weekend away.