Taking time out of your schedule and making a financial investment in your creativity can be hard. We all know its important, but stepping away and taking time for myself always makes me feel a little guilty. It is something I’m working on because the benefits to my mental health are enormous.

This summer I had the privilege of attending a Ponderosa and Thyme workshop at an old friend’s farm, Lady Lack Farm, in the mountains of NC. It was the perfect time to get away - July - from the ridiculous heat of the Piedmont.

I have family in this part of the state and went to college here as well, but getting up to the mountains, especially during the summer is a complete luxury. Stepping away from my farm in the middle of the summer is both necessary and refreshing I’m coming to realize.

Katie Davis is an inspiring teacher and a radical truth teller. Her honesty and vulnerability was just what I needed that day, but also left me feeling a little stunned. Allowing ourselves to be artists instead of just farmers or florists was a radical shift in identity. Not one that I have completely accepted, but I welcomed the challenge.

One of the best parts of the day was reconnecting with Katie from Lady Luck and meeting in person lots of folks that I knew from social media. Taking these friendships into real life feels so much better than random comments on Instagram.

Even though it was just one day away from my normal routine it was truly the break that I needed to push through the rest of the summer. Sometimes its not necessarily a lot of time that we need to feel refreshed, but just to dramatically change our routine and be generous to ourselves that can push the burn out away.