As we wrap up March—it’s hard to believe that a quarter of the year has already passed—we wanted to take the time to reflect on the past month. Life speeds up as we get older (or at least, our perception of time passing) which is why it’s so important to stop and think about our daily routines, habits and how we can keep incorporating new experiences and learnings to slow down time.
A lot happened this past month. We celebrated International Women’s Day on the 8th and National Day of Unplugging from sundown on March 9 to sundown on March 10. Spring arrived on the east coast, with another Nor’easter that followed in its footsteps. Our team was out scouting new locations for Getaway Outposts and dreaming of warmer weather (you can nominate a city here). New York was dreaming big too: there was a new bill introduced that would protect workers ‘right to disconnect’ after hours.
We received 277 feedback emails from our guests, and we read every single one of them—some of them twice. Feedback ranged from “It was the most relaxing and enjoyable vacation we have ever been on,” to “Retreating over the weekend gave me a serious creativity boost — a necessity since I’m normally in a windowless office from 9 – 5,”. Other feedback was about how we could improve; like the sticky door one guest was “struggling to open it and having to slam it closed”—we’re on it!
While we’ve been working on a lot, we’ve also been prioritizing getting solid rest. To that end, we partnered up with Casper, Sleepy Jones, KIND Snacks and S’well Bottle for ‘The Perfect Kind of Sleep Giveaway’—one lucky winner will get a set of goods and escape to one of our cabins to enjoy a night’s sleep in nature.
We’ve also just launched this Journal, where we’ll share with you our thoughts, profiles of the interesting people who stay with us, and findings on how to incorporate more balance in our lives. If you’re interested in contributing, shoot us a note at [email protected] or apply for our Artist Fellowship.
Below find a few links of interest and of what we’ve been thinking about lately. As always, feel free to get in touch if you have feedback or ideas.
Be well,
Jon, CEO + Founder
ITEMS OF NOTE WORTH TAKING THE TIME FOR
New York Today: Finding a Place to Disconnect — This is a nice read that ponders aloud: are there any spaces left where we can truly disconnect? Outside of the courtroom, can we deliberately re-create more sacred spaces where people can exist without phones? We’d like to think so—we propose starting with office meeting spaces
Slow Thought: a manifesto—While this 3,200-word essay is meaty and chock full of references to philosophers like Derrida and Foucault, it’s worth sitting down with and chewing, well, slowly. One of the first points this essay argues for is more face-to-face interactions and conversations—we recommend reading and discussing with someone in real life.
Best Day Hikes Near Shenandoah—For our DC-based folk, this article does an excellent job of rounding up the best day hikes near our DC Outpost. It includes a variety of distances and difficulties, so dust off your hiking boots and lose the phone while you enjoy the scenery.