According to Statistics Canada, in 2014 there were 6,178,000 women in Canada between the ages of 40 and 64. That is the age range I focus on for my Women's Wisdom Retreats. Now, here's the challenge. I only take 3 women at a time and on a really good year I can handle 11 retreats for a total of 33 women per year. If I can keep this up for another 20 years (when I will be a strong, vibrant 80 years of age), then that means the most I can hope to accommodate is 660 women. So ... judging by these numbers there are barely 0.01% of women who I can offer the retreats to. And this doesn't factor in the growing number of participants from the U.S. and overseas.
There will be population changes of course and yet the numbers don't begin to decline for another 20 years. I know that not everyone is looking for what I offer. And I also know that a lot of women are. I'm a huge people pleaser (well managed most of the time) so it does somewhat distress me to think that I might not be able to share this journey with everyone who is looking for the kind of deep, insightful experience that the Women's Wisdom Retreats have been known for over the past 14 years.
It makes me wonder who the 0.01% will be. Are these women already looking and pondering? Are these women who are preparing themselves physically, spiritually and emotionally for the inner shifts the retreat will ignite? Are these women waiting for the perfect intersection of resources (time, money, health, circumstances) to give them space to indulge in their own wellbeing? Are these women waiting for that tipping point when they can no longer justify living out of integrity somewhere in their life?
Who indeed are these women who will take the long winding road up the Bruce Peninsula to a small plot of land on Lake Huron and uncover enormous riches of knowledge about themselves?
It always astounds me how three women who typically don't know each other at all, will arrive together to find the common thread of womanhood amongst the ache of wanting more. Perhaps they are reaching out, energetically, to one another ... right now.
There will be population changes of course and yet the numbers don't begin to decline for another 20 years. I know that not everyone is looking for what I offer. And I also know that a lot of women are. I'm a huge people pleaser (well managed most of the time) so it does somewhat distress me to think that I might not be able to share this journey with everyone who is looking for the kind of deep, insightful experience that the Women's Wisdom Retreats have been known for over the past 14 years.
It makes me wonder who the 0.01% will be. Are these women already looking and pondering? Are these women who are preparing themselves physically, spiritually and emotionally for the inner shifts the retreat will ignite? Are these women waiting for the perfect intersection of resources (time, money, health, circumstances) to give them space to indulge in their own wellbeing? Are these women waiting for that tipping point when they can no longer justify living out of integrity somewhere in their life?
Who indeed are these women who will take the long winding road up the Bruce Peninsula to a small plot of land on Lake Huron and uncover enormous riches of knowledge about themselves?
It always astounds me how three women who typically don't know each other at all, will arrive together to find the common thread of womanhood amongst the ache of wanting more. Perhaps they are reaching out, energetically, to one another ... right now.