On October 7th thru 9th, Hair Solutions had their first ever wellness retreat, with a goal of providing us a “Pathway to Health and Happiness”. The salon was closed with the whole tribe going to the Blue Harbor Resort to enjoy a weekend of relaxation and rejuvenation after two long years after the pandemic hit.

Friday, October 7th

After arriving at the resort, a photographer came to take a tribe photo, as well as individual photos. The setting couldn’t have been more beautiful, as the moon was rising over Lake Michigan. During dinner, there was an opportunity to speak about what we were grateful for and our experiences at Hair Solutions. For about 40 minutes, members of the team spoke about their experiences, it was amazing to be a part of. After dinner was team bonding with karaoke, and the girls BROUGHT IT! The staff and other guests were cheering us on, Dawn even did karaoke for the first time!

Saturday, October 8th

Following breakfast, Dawn Carter from Summit Salons gave a phenomenal presentation, providing us with ways to live our best lives. We learned how being mindful can really change how we see things. When we have a positive mindset, we are being our true authentic selves, whereas having a negative mindset is when our ego is present, and we let our thoughts and our stories dictate how we run our lives. The stories we tell ourselves, become our reality. For example, our ego says “I’m a victim of my circumstance” and our authentic self says “I create my own reality”.

“So often we think that joy makes us grateful, when in reality it’s gratitude that brings joy.”- Brene Brown

Gratitude helps us get out of our ego and into our authentic selves. We are never too busy to practice gratitude. Dawn had us do an exercise called a gratitude sprint. We each had a canvas which we passed around the room, each taking a turn to write two to three qualities we see in each person. It was a powerful exercise to see how others see us versus how we see ourselves. Our final activity with Dawn was called Burn Baby Burn. We wrote down our negative self talk and beliefs on a piece of paper and folded it up. At our bonfire after dinner, we burned all of our negative beliefs. Some chose to talk about what they had written, and others chose to just burn their papers. It was truly an amazing experience and it allowed our tribe to understand and bond with each other.