It Wasn't a Girls Trip I Was Craving. It Was This.

A few years ago, I remember feeling this deep craving to get away.

At the time, I thought what I needed was a girls trip.

I wanted connection. Time away. Space to breathe. I had spent years deep in motherhood, raising three kids, juggling schedules, and working full time. We had also just experienced the loss of a family member and a very close friend only six weeks apart. Life felt heavy and loud all at once.

So I started reaching out to friends.

But everyone was in their own season of life too. Sports schedules. Pregnancies. Divorces. Sharing custody. Sick family members. Young kids. Busy careers. Full calendars. Heavy mental loads.

No one could really make it work.

And somewhere in the middle of trying to plan the trip, I realized something important:

What I was actually craving wasn’t a girls trip.

It was stillness.

I didn’t need packed itineraries, restaurants, or nightlife. I needed quiet. I needed space to hear myself think again. I needed a nervous system reset in a way I didn’t even fully understand yet.

That realization changed everything.

The Most Out-of-Character Thing I Had Ever Done

One Friday, I found a women’s yoga, hiking, and meditation retreat online.

Four days later, I was on a plane by myself.

At the time, this felt completely outside my comfort zone. I didn’t know anyone going. I had never done something like that alone before. I was nervous. I felt guilty leaving my family. But underneath all of that, I knew I needed it.

So I went.

And it ended up being one of the most grounding weeks of my life.






The “Friends for the Week” I Never Expected

One of the best parts of the trip was the women I met there.

A group of strangers from completely different walks of life who all showed up carrying something. Looking for something. Needing something.

We hiked. We meditated. We did yoga. We sat quietly. We talked about life for hours. We laughed. We rested.

And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I started to relax. I could literally feel my nervous system calming down.

The retreat gave me enough space to hear my own thoughts again and reflect on everything we had been carrying through that season of life.

Enough space to reconnect with myself underneath the noise of everyday life.

I think a lot of women lose that connection for a while in motherhood.

You become the person holding everything together. The scheduler. The caretaker. The one remembering all the things. And eventually, you stop hearing yourself underneath all of it.

That week brought me back to myself in a way I deeply needed, but didn’t fully know how to access anymore.

Sometimes You Can’t Wait for Everyone Else

One of the biggest lessons that experience taught me is that sometimes you have to stop waiting for everyone else to be available before you take care of yourself.

I would have loved a trip with my friends.

But if I had waited for everyone’s schedules to align perfectly, I probably never would have gone anywhere at all.

And I think women do this all the time.

We wait for the perfect timing. We wait for someone to go with us. We wait until everyone else is ready too.

Meanwhile, the part of us asking for rest, clarity, healing, or space keeps getting pushed further down the list.

That trip gave me confidence in a completely different way.

Confidence that I could book the flight. Confidence that I could go alone. Confidence that I could create the experience I needed instead of waiting for someone else to create it for me.

That stayed with me long after the trip ended.






What I’d Tell Women Now

Girls trips are beautiful. Friendship matters deeply.

But sometimes the thing we’re actually craving underneath all of it is stillness.

And if that’s what you’ve been craving lately, pay attention to it.

Sometimes the desire for quiet is your body asking you to slow down long enough to reconnect with yourself again.

To hear your own thoughts. To remember what you need. To step outside the constant noise and responsibility for a minute and just be.

That trip reminded me that taking care of yourself is not selfish.

Sometimes it’s the very thing that brings you back to yourself again.

If You’re In That Season Too

If you’ve been craving rest, quiet, space, or a different perspective lately, maybe this is your sign to stop brushing that feeling off.

You don’t always need a huge life change.

Sometimes you just need enough stillness to hear yourself again.

And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is stop waiting for everyone else and give yourself what you need anyway. 🤍

 

-Rachel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Mental Symptoms of Perimenopause Nobody Warned Me About

A few years ago, around 37 or 38, I was in one of the hardest seasons of my life. Both my husband and I were stretched thin at work. We had a close family member who was very sick. A close friend was battling cancer. Life felt heavy, full, and emotionally exhausting all at the same time. I had three young kids. My youngest was three or four, and I remember thinking I was finally getting through the baby years. In my mind, life should have been starting to feel a little lighter. Instead, I felt like I was working twice as hard just to keep up. What I didn't realize at the time was that I wasn't only carrying a heavy season of life. I was also in perimenopause. And I didn’t know it. When Life Starts Feeling Harder Than It Should Looking back now, I can see it clearly. The exhaustion was one of the first things I noticed. Not tired from being busy. Not tired from having young kids. I knew what those things felt like. This felt deeper. I was getting thro...
Read more

What Millennial Women Owe the Next Generation: Let's Talk About Perimenopause

I didn't know what perimenopause was — and I was already in it. I had heard the word, but in my mind it belonged to a different season of life. A later one. I thought you had your kids, made it through the baby years, and then things were supposed to get easier. That's the phase I felt like I was finally entering. My youngest was around three or four. I had three kids, I had survived the thick of it, and I remember thinking — okay. This is where things start to feel lighter. And that's exactly when things started to feel off. When It Started It came on slowly. In ways I almost talked myself out of noticing. I couldn't think as clearly as I used to. Simple things felt harder than they should have. It was fog. Like I was trying to think clearly and just… not getting there. I was distracted in a way that didn't feel like me. The exhaustion was different too. Not the tired that comes from three kids and a full life. I know what that feels like. I've lived t...
Read more

WELCOME TO ROOTED AND RISING 🌿✨

Hi — I’m Rachel. I’m 40, a mom of three, married almost 15 years, and someone who genuinely loves building a life that feels good. I love coffee, running, being outside with my kids, traveling, Disney World… all of it. I’ve always been someone who sets goals, follows through, and creates the kind of life I want to live. I built a career in finance. Worked full-time while raising my kids. Helped our family become debt-free. I’ve always been the one who figures things out. And for a long time, I did. Then things started to feel harder than they should A few years ago, I noticed a shift. My energy dropped. I was experiencing brain fog… I felt more overwhelmed doing things I used to handle easily. For a long time, I blamed it on stress. Learning what was actually going on But eventually, it started to feel like it was more than that. So I began asking better questions. Talking to my doctor. Looking into things I had never thought much about before. ...
Read more