Labor Retreat

Personal challenges and those of society at large

Do you happened to be someone who wishes to develop and grow into the future?  From a professional or personal point of view?  Or both?  Are you involved in commerce, government, health care and education?  Come and talk to me, in English and Dutch.  I’m listening to help you forward.

How I see it is that there are very many possibilities to approach life.  We may want things to be the way they were and bump into progress time and time again.  Fortunately, there is a learning curve here to be discovered, one we can develop into ideas that fit our future life.  We can evaluate our habits and patterns and surprise ourselves in doing so.  We can learn from history and adapt to the present.  It could be so that some habits are happy to keep, while others are good to lose.  We can choose to see obstacles and overcome them, aspiring to be free and liberated.  

People undertake major efforts during their working life – and beyond, to keep their knowledge and skills up to date and extend the value of all this accumulated studying for themselves and society.  People are formally and informally educated throughout their lives to prepare themselves for the future.  They develop repertoires and strategies based on new knowledge and routines.  Part of these efforts, this lifelong learning is coping with unrest and disruption from work, school or (romantic) relationships, in which we have to self-reflect and adjust to new and personal scenarios.  We find ourselves in a labor retreat.

Note:

In 2018, in my thesis I called this space of time a Labor Interbellum, because I liked the alliteration and the rhythm of it, and I liked the idea of time in between, of a dale between two peaks.  Recently I learned that the Interbellum or Antebellum relates to the American Civil War, the Confederates Flag and racism.  These particular associations are not the ones I like, so I renamed it a Labor Retreat, a period of life challenges that causes change.  Now what are we talking about?

Self-reflect on new horizons

We find ourselves in a labor retreat when we have to handle – sometimes unexpectedly, and involuntarily - unrest from work, education, finance or (romantic) relationships; or personal human, economic and social crises.  It is the period in between these personal and/or professional positions with all the aggression, loss, and resurrection that comes with it.  We said goodbye to the old and have to welcome the new.  We made time to evaluate our capabilities, to self-reflect on new horizons.  This Labor Retreat is the period of self-reflection into achievable scenarios of work, school, friendship and love.  These scenarios expand our comfort zone and lead us to a new challenge.

Present and future

A labor retreat involves self-reflection as an assignment.  Whoever finds hirself in such a place withdraws a little from routines and ponders on present and future, orienting on a wide and vast landscape.  How did we get here?  Why hasn’t anybody said something?  Were we hyper-focused or dedicated?

Now where do we spot new possibilities?  What could the future look like?  Where is the music?  Where are the flowers a-bloom?  Where can we all be part of the fun?  At some point we may wonder whether we are still on the right track, whether we are still pursuing happiness.  Or are we merely chasing that interesting position with a bright and shining career forgetting our intentions to change the world.  Have we become clicktivists who intend to change the world by a mouse click?  When did that turn into slacktivism, with very little effort or commitment from ourselves?   

Picture: Super Social op de Social (Toorn, 2020)

Illustrated in the picture Super Social op de Social by Jip van den Toorn (June 2020) in De Volkskrant, it says in Dutch ‘What was that Ice Bucket Challenge again?’  ‘Forgot… but my bikini was cute though’.   In fact, in July and August 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge was to promote awareness for the disease ALS; people challenged each other to pour a bucket of ice water over their heads, film their reaction and post that meme on social media.  Or donate to the ALS-organization.  Or do both.

About this little effort or commitment, are we prankers or fake news, involved with nothing but us?  Are we caught up in the objectives of others while we really don’t care, do u?  What are we flaunting online?  What are we not?  How does that come across offline?  What’s the point?  Are we even able to put our phones aside or do we post, like and swipe maniacally?   

Can we keep calm and accept inclusive terms and conditions, focusing on things we can influence, e.g., our own thoughts and behavior toward others?

In the present Corona Retreat, we are banned from life formerly known as ours.  It seems like a hundred moons ago when we sat in a college room or office, went out to dance, travelled, and moved about freely.  Undergoing a rather voiceless yet global health challenge, it would be safe to say we could all do with such a muted period from time to time, and we could all do with a little change.  We may have been unconsciously unaware of the voiceless people we are neglecting when we say we even enjoy the peace and quiet of it.

A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke, 1964)

The present pandemic created by Covid-19 caused turmoil, as the disease has developed into much more than a health crisis.  Last April, the United Nations stated it as a human, economic and social crisis, possibly increasing inequality, exclusion, discrimination and global unemployment in the medium and long term.  Parallel to our unexpected, and involuntary personal labor retreat runs this global human, economic and social unrest.  As per mid-June, we witness protests that started in the US and travelled highspeed within a couple of weeks to over 60 countries in all continents except Antarctica, according to Wikipedia.  People are protesting against the public online killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, other police brutality, institutionalized discrimination and racism.  They are becoming members of Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities (1983), made of people who consider themselves part of that group, while unfamiliar to each other.  Leaders of BLM Black Lives Matter and other movements are orienting on this unexpected and heavy social agitation and have to try and move flows of people into change, into respecting an inclusive approach to people of color, away from racism.

A labor retreat is a temporary situation in which we hide and sit still while getting ready.  After a longer or shorter period of reflective time, we return strengthened to life, with a new strategy for work, school and love.  A retreat could be such a welcome place to self-reflect and leave again, not only sadder and wiser, also strengthened and renewed.  A retreat in Corona times is all about handling human, economic and social unrest and change on a personal and glocal scale.  What are we happy to keep, what is good to lose?  

Do go on a retreat to withdraw from daily life and while pondering your personal challenges consider those of society at large as well.

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Eva Xenia Veeneman (married, 4 children) observes her habitat.  Remains optimistic. Was an older Online Culture and Global Communication master student among Millennials and Gen Z’s and enjoyed every minute of it.  Earnest about surprising people to expand their repertoires and strategies to live a beautiful life.  Gained tons of experience in peaks and falter, some only recently.  Works as a global educator on cultural awareness, and as a transition and life coach for young people, expats and entrepreneurs.  More on YouAreFunCoaching by www.evaveeneman.com.