Breaking Free, Making Hard Choices

It is 1976, and my physician dad has left his booming medical practice in San Antonio. We have abandoned our comfortable, sprawling ranch-style home on two acres and have moved into a twelve-hundred-square-foot home with a wood-burning stove on fifty acres set back on a red dirt road in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada. When I am older, my parents will tell me they made the move in order to support a simpler life, to be more connected to nature, and to be near an active spiritual community. But right now, I am furious. I hate leaving my friends. I hate the idea of moving to a “yoga community.” I’m sure I will never see another Hostess Ding Dong again! Also, I’m nervous and anxious because I have no idea what the future holds. But slowly, as the first year unfolds, I become excited about our new adventure. At school, I meet kids from all over whose parents are just as weird as—if not weirder than—mine, and I get to enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom. I study pottery and other arts, and I write short stories and poetry while roaming the hundred-acre grounds of our school. Every day, my siblings and I ride horses bareback through undiscovered forests and explore crashing rivers and forgotten trails nestled in tall, inviting Ponderosa pine trees. I find, like my dad, I’m a risk taker. Part of me gets why he is doing this. He—in his own way—is trying to create a new way of being for his family.

Years later, as an adult, I will often joke that all I remember doing during our six years in California is riding horses, reading the Bhagavad Gita, writing poetry, and making stained-glass windows. Yet this period of my life—when I am given the time, space, freedom, and encouragement to really explore who I am—will have a profound and lasting impact on who I become. 

Last week I was visiting with a fellow entrepreneur about money and life choices and the radical decision my parents made to break free from the status quo. Simultaneously, my husband and I have been asking hard questions about our life and how we envision the next 30 years.

When was the last time you did a life assessment, pulled back and really looked at what’s working and what’s not working for you (and your family)?

HOMEWORK: Are you willing to wholeheartedly examine the choices you’ve made, the unhealthy habits you’ve developed and where you need to “break free” in your life? If you feel called to do things differently, heed this urge and explore what this might look like for you. Carve out an hour this week to sit down with a notebook/pen (and your partner if you’re in a relationship) and work through a powerful exercise from Ch. 9 Breaking Free, Making Hard Choices (go to pg. 164), from my life balance book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life.  In this exercise, I’ll guide you through a review of six areas: work, home, play, finances, movement, and nourishment as you examine with compassion and curiosity how you’ve set up your life.

This week consider, “What does the life I desire look like, and am I willing to make the choices necessary to experience a new way of being—to embrace greater freedom and joy?” Feel free to reach out at info at reneetrudeau dot com with any observations—I’d love to hear from you.

Warmly,

HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOU FIND BALANCE & RESILIENCY? HERE ARE FOUR OPPORTUNITIES:  

• October 25 – 27th ~ Soul Tending: Cultivating Grace, Power and Intuition ~ A Women’s Self-Renewal Retreat at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Berkshire Mountains, Western MA).  From stillness comes discernment. Your soul is calling, are you listening? Join me for connection, replenishing rest, divine natural foods cuisine, song/movement, restorative yoga and more. Packages start at just $635 for this soul-nurturing weekend. Learn more and register.
• *NEW OFFERING!* Secrets to Facilitating Life-Changing Women’s Groups/Retreats in Uncertain Times ~ the course. Are you passionate about empowering other women in your area? Would you love to lead women’s groups/retreats?  Connection = medicine. Created by Renee, this beautiful, self-paced video course–based on our wildly popular, now retired 18-year-old Facilitator Training Program–offers everything you need to start facilitating women’s circles/retreats. Download today; available 24/7. Only $195 for a limited time. Learn more.
• SANCTUARY: A Women’s Self-Renewal Journey ~ September – November.  Learn to cultivate grace, power and intuition in a safe and sacred space with 10 other women. This is a 10-week, in-person self-renewal group/incubator for women.  Location: Brevard, NC, 45 min. from Asheville. Almost full. Please inquire if there is space. Learn More.
• Wild Souls Nature Adventures (based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC): authentic movement classes, community song circles, full moon hikes, meditation workshops, women’s circles & more. New offerings listed each week; have me design a custom experience for your team/friends. Join us Sunday, July 14th & 28th for our next Wild Souls Authentic Movement Class near Asheville, NC (No class July 21st). Learn more.

Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance coach/author/speaker and catalyst Renée Peterson Trudeau. Passionate about helping men and women find balance through the art/science of self-care, Renee has been facilitating high-impact, interactive workshops and women’s retreats for Fortune 500 companies, national nonprofits/conferences and organizations/teams worldwide for 25 years. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Fast Company, Good Housekeeping, Yoga Journal, AARP Magazine, Spirituality & Health and more. She and her team have certified more than 450 facilitators in 10 countries around the globe to lead self-renewal groups/retreats based on her pioneering self-care curriculum. She’s the author of two books on life balance including the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life. She and her husband live in Western North Carolina and their son lives in New York City; her latest venture is Wild Souls Nature Adventures. More on Renee here.