Not All Rest Looks Like Doing Nothing
What planting corn, walking barefoot, and sharing a meal reminded me about conscious leadership
This past Saturday, my friend Tanya and I spent part of the afternoon riding behind a tractor, placing corn seedlings into water-filled holes as the machine moved down the rows.
We started calling it “slooshing” the corn.
I’m still not entirely sure whether that is an official farming term, but it perfectly described what we were doing. We were learning as we went, trying to keep up with the machine, and laughing almost the entire time.
Sound on for Tanya and me mastering the highly technical art of “slooshing” corn. 😂
By the time I left Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm, my feet and clothes were covered in dirt. My muscles were sore the next morning from pulling vines off fences, yanking weeds and beets from the ground, planting corn, and using my body in ways I rarely do during my normal workday.
Yet I felt more rested than I do after many days when I have barely left my desk. My mind, body, and soul felt nourished.
A different kind of rest
This was our second gathering for the Women Executives Circle MA Cape Cod & Islands Chapter, hosted by my friend Sasha at her beautiful farm.
We spent the day outside working, learning, talking, laughing, and getting our hands dirty. We pulled tangled vines from fences, discovered how strong we were when stubborn roots finally released from the ground, and attempted jobs most of us had never done before.
There was no pressure to be an expert. We listened to instructions, asked questions, tried things, made mistakes, helped one another, and kept going.
Then we sat down together for the most delicious meal, prepared by Sasha with food from the farm and so much love.
Seven women leaders sitting together around an outdoor table at Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm after working on the farm.
Rest does not always mean sitting still or doing nothing.
Sometimes rest means using completely different muscles. It means stepping away from the screen and doing something with your hands. It means becoming a beginner again, laughing when you do not quite know what you are doing, and being fully engaged with the people and place around you.
The night before the gathering, connection looked different again. My son Jackson helped me bake cookies to bring to the farm. We talked, laughed, and sampled enough cookie dough to make sure the recipe was working. Spoiler alert: it was working the whole time. :)
I loved that preparing for a day centered on community also created more connection at home.
COMING BACK INTO THE BODY
At one point during the farm visit, I took off my shoes to walk through the dirt, and I ended up leaving them off for the rest of the day.
Nicole’s bare feet standing in the soil at Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm.
I could feel the cool soil, the uneven ground beneath my feet, and the plants brushing against my ankles. Some people call this earthing, but for me it was simply a way to get out of my head and back into my body.
I stopped thinking about the emails waiting for me, what I needed to promote, or what had to happen next. I could feel my feet, my breath, and the ground beneath me.
I was fully present.
What conscious leaders need
So much of leadership happens from the neck up.
We analyze information, anticipate problems, make decisions, manage competing priorities, respond to people, and think several steps ahead. These abilities matter, but they can also become the only way we know how to engage with our lives.
Our minds may be perfectly capable of continuing while our bodies, hearts, and deeper intuition are asking for a completely different experience.
Conscious leadership asks us to widen our awareness. It invites us to notice what is happening not only in our thoughts, but throughout our whole system. That becomes difficult when every hour looks the same and nearly every interaction takes place through a screen.
Sometimes we need to change our surroundings before we can hear ourselves clearly.
We may need to go outside, move our bodies, try something unfamiliar, eat a meal made with care, or spend unstructured time with people who allow us to be human rather than impressive.
At the farm, no one needed to perform leadership. We were simply women working side by side, figuring things out, getting dirty, talking honestly, and enjoying one another.
That is leadership too.
This is why I create retreats
This is why I care so much about creating in-person experiences for women leaders.
Clarity does not always come from thinking harder. Sometimes it comes from stepping far enough outside our usual environment for the noise to settle. We need space to reconnect with our bodies, spend time in nature, have meaningful conversations, laugh, rest, and remember who we are beyond what we produce for everyone else.
That is the intention behind my Fall Rest & Reset Leadership Retreat for Women, taking place October 15–18 on Cape Cod.
The retreat is an opportunity to step out of the pace and pressure of daily life and reconnect with yourself alongside a small group of women who understand what it means to carry significant responsibility.
Rest is an intentional part of the experience, and it is in service of leadership. This retreat is designed to help you understand how you are showing up, recognize the patterns shaping your decisions and relationships, and return to your work and life with greater clarity, presence, and intention.
We will explore conscious leadership, the Enneagram, mindfulness, reflection, movement, and time in nature, with room for meaningful connection and deep rest.
WHAT WOMEN CARRIED HOME
The farm brought me back to what women shared after my Spring Awakening retreat this spring. Both experiences created space to step away from everyday life, reconnect with ourselves and others, and return feeling more grounded and clear.
“I left feeling more grounded, more connected to myself, and clearer about how I want to lead.”
“The level of openness, honesty, and connection that developed in such a short period of time was unlike anything I’ve experienced.”
Every retreat has its own energy and its own group of women, but this is what I hope to make possible each time: space to slow down enough to hear yourself, connect deeply with others, and return to your life with more clarity about how you want to lead.
Early-bird pricing for Fall Rest & Reset ends August 20.
If you have been telling yourself that you will slow down when everything else settles, consider whether it is time to create the space rather than continue waiting for it to appear.
What kind of rest does your whole self need right now?
If reading this stirred something in you, feel free to reach out. I’d love to hear from you.
Hi! I’m Nicole Bliss. I partner with founders, executives, and teams to lead with more clarity, presence, and courage, so their impact matches their ambition. To learn more about how I can support you and your team, please visit my website and connect with me at nicole@leadwithbliss.com.
