I’m on retreat today. That’s a church word, I know, but that’s what I am doing. It’s a mini-retreat, shoehorned between Christmas festivities and a speaking engagement tomorrow. I’m at Starbucks.

When most people think of a retreat, they have certain scenarios that play. Maybe they think of monks sitting silently on a hard bench in a cold room (wow! so fun!)  Or they think of going to a facility in the woods where they meet together, then go off alone in the woods where they get lost (not spiritually, like physically), and then they find their way back and they eat a lot.

I’ve done different, short-term retreats. I’ve gone to a church in DC. I’ve gone away with work colleagues to the beach. But today, I’m on retreat at Starbucks.

Ok, so maybe this is more like extended coffee with headphones on and my Macbook. But I love doing this. It’s loud and drowns out my own wandering thoughts. I had some “quiet time,” some reading time, and some work time (I tend to work on retreats; not sure what that says about me). And then I declare in my head “Retreat is Over,” at which point I check out social media and blog a bit.

There are aspects of typical retreats here. There is coffee and food. There is nature outside the window (more accurately described as the parking lot next to Bertucci’s) and the seats are hard like if I was a monk in a monkery (monastery sounds a bit high fallutin’ for a retreat).

Christmas can sometimes drain relaxation from us. Ok, not sometimes, but always.

Are you on retreat? I bet you are. It might be in a recliner, on a sofa, still in your jammies.

Happy Boxing Day to the British. Happy Retreat Day to Americans.

And for those at work, take off your shoes, put them on your desk, and pretend you are on retreat. You are clearly already viewing it as such since you are reading this non-work related blog.