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The Journey | A New Year Visioning Retreat

  • WeWork Wonder Bread Factory 641 S Street Northwest Washington, DC, 20001 United States (map)

A new year can bring a time of transition, when we’re teetering on the verge of new opportunities and possibilities. Simultaneously, we’re experiencing the tail end of 365 days filled with defining, transformative moments, and the imprints of these experiences—be they gains, losses, successes, setbacks—can be most palpable when we reflect upon them this time of year. This retreat helped people find their footing.

Evolve Founder Jill Barrett and Creative Strategist Amy Mayers led the group through a different kind of new year ritual, one that supports lasting change.

The former seat of one of the city's largest bakeries, WeWork Wonder Bread Factory is now home to high-energy companies of every type, from tech startups to catering firms. Wonder Bread Factory is in the heart of Shaw, a neighborhood known for its vibrancy.

At the retreat, we:

  • Ate and listened to music together

  • Let go of what we were ready to release from 2019

  • Collaged, drew, journaled and played to explore what is emerging in 2020

  • Connected and shared with each other

The retreat included:

  • A delicious, nourishing lunch from Sorellina DC

  • Opportunities for 1:1 coaching moments

  • Inspirational workbook


Investment: $125


THE JOURNEY
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.