Why Every Woman Needs a Retreat: What I Found (and Faced) in the Middle of Nowhere

Amish country. Snowstorm. Midnight hot tubbing. That’s how this retreat started—and somehow, it turned into one of the most important resets I’ve had all year.

In this solo episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on my recent retreat experience: the misadventures getting there, the big (and small) realizations that hit me once I arrived, and why I’m officially convinced everyone needs to book a retreat for themselves in 2026—or whenever you’re ready.

You’ll hear what really happens when you give yourself time to get quiet, tune in, and choose yourself without guilt. Spoiler: it’s not all face masks and journaling. It’s bigger than that.

I’m also celebrating a major milestone—A Beautiful Fix just passed 5,000 downloads and is streaming in 50 countries and over 575 cities—and it’s all because of you.

So grab your earbuds, let’s talk gratitude, selfishness (in the best way), and what it means to make space for something new. Even if it includes questionable GPS decisions and 33° hot tubs.

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Transcript

A Beautiful Fix: Ep. 45: Why Every Woman Needs a Retreat: What I Found (and Faced) in the Middle of Nowhere

 Okay, so here's my not so secret agenda for this episode. By the time we're done, I want you seriously thinking about booking yourself a retreat N 2026. I don't care if it's solo, I don't care if it's with strangers, I don't care if it's in the mountains or in a cabin near Costco. Just something for you.

Because I just got back from one and whew. There were snow storms, moonlight, mischief, big realizations. And yes, me choosing me. So today I am sharing a few stories, a little behind the scenes of what actually went down and why retreats aren't just a luxury, they're a necessity. Plus I've got some gratitude to dish out.

A beautiful fix has been in the top 5% globally for a while now, but we're celebrating 5,000 downloads, 50 countries, and 575 cities and under 10 months. So yes, I'm in my fills. So let's talk about it. So for those of you who received my thought, Jim Love Notes on Sunday, the little newsletter that I send out, you can always sign up for it@abeautifulfix.com.

Just scroll to the bottom of any page. But you guys got a bit of a sneak preview and I promise that I would go just a little bit deeper. So with this retreat I signed up to just work on my business, just dedicate five solid days heads down, um, to, you know, thinking about my business through the lens of human design.

So it was like perfect. And I have to just share a couple of stories. Um, of course. It's, you know, it was in Dover, Ohio. That was a whole story in it, in and of itself. But, um, it was in November and of course it snowed. And I saw that it was going to snow and I thought, really? I mean, we haven't had the first snowfall and it's gonna snow the day that I have to go on a road trip.

Okay. But this wasn't just the first snowfall, which is what I thought it was. It turned into a winter. Um. Storm watch and the reports kept getting worse and worse. And I was scheduled to drive on Monday and on Sunday I had my family over and everyone started looking at the weather and they're like, Tracy, um, you can't go tomorrow.

They're predicting like 10 inches of snow. And I thought, you have to be kidding me. I'm not a big weather person. I don't. Watch it all the time. I'm not gonna let it stop me again. I knew it was gonna snow, but I would just, I knew I needed to, you know, leave myself a little bit more time. But typically in the first snowfall in the Midwest, the snow doesn't accumulate, it doesn't stick.

So I just thought, no big deal. Well, the reports kept getting worse and worse and um, my brother was staying with me and he was like, trace, you can't go. Maybe she'll cancel it. I'm like, she's coming from Australia. This is Emma Dunwoody, like the queen of human design. She's coming from Australia. She's not canceling this.

And so he said, well, it's too bad you can't go up tonight. And I thought, no, I can't go tonight. Oh my God, do I have to go tonight? And I started thinking about it. I was already packed for the first time in my life. I was actually packed early except for like my toiletries. And I started thinking about it and thought, I guess I could, I guess I could drive up tonight.

And that way I will know that I will be there in the morning when all the, this snow starts. It was about two o'clock on Sunday. It gets dark here by like four 30. It's, it's pitch black. And so I thought, okay, let me hurry up and get on the road so I can, you know, get out. And I didn't get on the road until probably almost close to five, just, you know, finishing up last minute details.

Anyway, let's just say I do not recommend driving into the middle of nowhere in complete darkness in rural areas when there's a snowstorm. Um. I don't know why. I think it's because where I live, I live off of the lake and we get lake effect snow. But it started snowing that night. Like it wasn't, the snow wasn't supposed to start until like 10 o'clock.

It started snowing the moment I pulled outta my driveway. Um, so it was just me and the road and snow and um, podcast. I listened to a bunch of podcasts and got all caught up. But it was interesting the closer that I got and the further away I was from home. There were less and less cars. My um, GPS kept saying visibility is, you know, going to go down to none soon.

And I was like, this is not helpful because I can't do anything about it. Um, I was trying to get behind, you know, the truck so that I could just. Glide behind them and their, you know, um, lights and they kept exiting and turning off. And after a while it got to the point where it was just me and another car at times.

And even that was kind of eerie because the idea of just one other car, you have to wonder, am I on the road with the one serial killer, you know, tonight? But it got to the point where it was just me. It was just me and the open road and there were no longer any, um, overhead lights. It was just me and the moonlight and stars, and it was pretty scary.

So the last hour I actually ended up calling my husband. I just wanted to be talking on the phone. 'cause if something were to happen, at least he could say, well, she was at this point when she slid off the road or someone, whatever, my mind was racing. So as I get closer and closer and closer to my final destination, I'm looking for a Holiday Inn.

So I'm expecting to be around, , some streetlights and some cars and some stoplights, something. I am in the middle. Nowhere, like there's no light except for my headlights. And pretty soon I see something off to the right. And it looks almost like one of those, , signs that tell you to, to merge, to move over, like one of those kind of warning signs.

The only thing that's lighting it up are my, my headlights. And I started to notice legs and I look closer. It's a horse drawn buggy. It's a horse drawn buggy in the middle of a snowstorm. In total darkness at like midnight, and I just thought, ordinarily I love nature. That would've been a, oh my gosh. It was a where am I?

I questioned every decision I've ever made. And it just kept getting darker and darker. And finally I got to the point where it was, you know, you are here, you have arrived. And there was nothing around me. There was maybe like a random farmhouse, which was almost worse. And I freaked out. I lost it on the phone with my husband, absolutely lost it.

I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what to do. There was no pulling off into a gas station. There was nothing around me. I didn't, I didn't understand where I was. So I had to take some deep breaths and just calm down. And I realized that even though I made sure I put in the Holiday Inns, um, address, nope, I had selected my retreats address, the place that I wasn't supposed to arrive to until four 30 the next day.

So I was outside of that place in the middle of nowhere and not the Holiday Inn. Did I mention that my GPS, uh, was no longer working my wifi? I had nothing. So I'm in the middle of nowhere with no modern conveniences. So I just started driving. My husband kept saying, Tracy, just stay put. He's trying to figure out the best he can from my home, where I am and how to help me.

And I'm like, Nope. I feel safer moving, actually driving. So I was able to trace my, steps back and I got to. What I'll call the main road and I was, able to get wifi again and put in the Holiday Inn address and arrive to my destination. I've never been so happy to walk in and see someone behind the front desk ever.

So that was how my retreat began. But I shared this because as scary as that was, as mad as I was with myself as much as I was questioning. There's still something about stepping into the great unknown. I, there's something about. Doing that, having the adventure, realizing that you got through it. It makes for great storytelling if nothing else.

But that's how it began. Um, and then I showed up the next day and it was fabulous. It was wonderful. It's a beautiful. Retreat center in the middle of nowhere in Ohio, and it's nestled around an area, I believe it's called Sugar Creek. I should have looked it up. I think it's Sugar Creek and it's called like the mini Switzerland of Ohio.

Who knew? And it's Amish country. I just drove around and it was absolutely beautiful. Just the natural rolling hills it was wonderful. But the retreat itself, was in  a home . I wouldn't even call it a home. There were like 14 bedrooms, .

I guess it was like a doomsday shelter that , this couple bought and they just completely, renovated it so that it could be a retreat center and it had, a hot tub and a pool and a sauna, and it was just a wonderful experience. Having a private chef there who prepared the most amazing meals for us, three meals a day, plus snacks.

All of the food was healthy. I'm vegetarian, and there was so much to choose from and it was made with so much love. And she did a wonderful job of just letting us know what everything was, how it was prepared, where the herbs came from. A lot of them came from her garden, her parents' garden, and .

Every meal she made a special tea for us and she would tell us the benefits of the tea and, I'm not even that big of a tea drinker, but I just loved it. And then the next day it would be a cold, iced tea for us. She was fabulous. The women who showed up at retreats, you always find yourself with the most amazing souls.

We were all there to work on our business and we were all just dreaming of what we could create and, and put into this world. And so that was wonderful. Um, spending time with them. But there were some shenanigans. So, um, my roommate, Irene, beautiful soul, she was just this little beautiful firefly, just this gorgeous energy.

And she somehow talked me into going into the hot tub in the middle of the night. Remember, I'm in the middle of Ohio. It's 33 degrees outside. The hot tub was outside. We had to walk across cement to get to it. I thought, this is the worst idea ever. I'm gonna regret it, but I'm doing it.

I don't go on these retreats to show up as Tracy and let my, mind talk me outta my, I'm gonna do it. I can always hop right out. It was amazing. It was one of the best experiences. If you've never gone into a hot tub in the middle of the winter or just when it's cold outside, I highly recommend it.

There's something about filling the crisp air, freezing air. But then dipping your toe and then you're submerging your body into really warm water and your face just fills the crispness of the air. And we're sitting outside and there was no light pollution there. So you could see all the stars. The big dipper.

The little dipper. You could hear the sounds of nature. We'd literally, I think it was the second time we went in, we heard something kind of. Howell, and I wouldn't even call it a howl. I've never heard an animal make that sound, but it was out there with us. Um. We had the best conversation. It was funny because I was in the hot tub with all of, um, my new friends from Chicago.

There were about four of us and all the Chicago women were in the, um, hot tub together, and we were all line fours. In human design, there's something called a line four. It's your profile. Those are the networkers. And we looked and we're like, oh my gosh, you can't make this stuff up. All the networkers, all the people that had the line fours were, relationships are really important to you.

We were all in the hot tub. Um, we also, again, Irene talked me into another night walking outside to the sauna again, you had to go outdoors in a bathing suit, middle of nowhere. But not only did we go into a sauna, which was warm and nice, there was a cold water plunge outside of the sauna. It was just kind of an aluminum bathtub that was just filled with ice, cold, freezing water.

Um. And you would just plunge yourself into it and just breathe through it. I did it. I did not wanna do it, but I did it and it was kind of amazing. You know, once your, your legs lose all feeling it, just go completely numb. It's amazing how the cold doesn't really bother you anymore, but. That'll wake you up.

And then we went back into the sauna and kind of warmed up again. And it was just, it was just fun to do something out of the ordinary. But I went there to create something beautiful and it came to me on the last day. It just kind of all came together and I shared it with so much enthusiasm. I could feel it, I could see it, I could picture it.

And um. I'm excited for it. So you'll hear more about that. That'll, that's coming in 2026. Um, so, you know, it's great connections. People that I call friend now, it's, you know, insights that you. Typically won't get. When you're in your same environment, you always end up learning so much more about you and other people.

And this world, when you go on retreats, you think you're going on a retreat for this reason, and you typically realize later on that there was something else that you needed. Um, so. In the spirit of just Thanksgiving coming up and, , feeling gratitude, I did wanna just take a moment to just give you guys a little bit of love from me to you for listening to this podcast.

Seriously. I wasn't sure if anyone was going to listen. I didn't know if it was gonna be any good. I didn't know if I would have any guests. I cannot tell you how much it means that out of all of the distractions in this world, all the ways you could use your time that you are choosing to dial in and spend some time with me weekly.

I. Cannot thank you enough. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to reach out to me, to let me know which episodes resonated with you, um, to share the podcast with other people, to review it, and to all of the guests. I'm just simply the luckiest girl in the world. So here's my little Thanksgiving PSA and invitation to you for this week.

Yes. Be grateful. Be grateful. I know Thanksgiving can be a lot. I know there are mixed feelings out there about it, but just take a moment during Thanksgiving to kind of step back and just look at everyone that's gathered in your home or wherever it is that you're celebrating Thanksgiving. Look at their faces.

Feel gratitude that they are still here with us, that they're. In the room that you have people that you love and that love you to share this Thanksgiving, this holiday with. Be grateful for the food. Um, just for all of it. For all of it. And yes, Thanksgiving. Make sure you give, give with either , the food that you prepare or the food that you bring, or maybe you're opening up your home to people or just being present.

Actually being present with people and just listening, being in the moment. But don't forget to receive that dream, that break, that thing you keep putting off because you think it's selfish or bad timing, or maybe it's too much. Let yourself receive, and I'm serious about this retreat thing, even if it's not a beautiful fixed retreat.

Start thinking about it, dreaming about it, say yes to it. In 2026, there's a retreat for everything. There are retreats for basket weaving. There are retreats for people that like to eat in the nude. I don't know if that's real, but I'm just saying there are retreats for everything. Just say I'm doing it.

Take the time, make space for you. I promise you, you will not regret it. You are allowed to want more. You are allowed to choose you. Let's just say that 2026 is the year that we get unapologetically selfish. Stay close more to come on that. And if no one said it yet, I'm proud of you. I see you showing up.

I feel those beautiful wheels spinning. Remember, we're doing this together now. Go eat something delicious and maybe plot your own 2026 retreat. You deserve it. And until next time, keep getting high on life one beautiful fix at a time.