The retreat started with two workshops. The first was an input by Nina Hahne on the topic of “Writing – between blockage and inspiration”. In this input, we first took a closer look at the concept of productivity in writing from a literary studies perspective. Nina encouraged us to think about questions like: Where do our ideas of successful writing come from and to what extent do they influence our expectations of ourselves? In a second step, the participants dealt with the following questions: What is writer’s block? What causes can it have and how can I develop individual strategies to overcome it? Finally, there was an outlook on tools and materials that can support the writing process.
The second workshop “Strengthening Resilience – Less Stress in Life” by Claus Caspari aimed to raise awareness and educate about stress and mental health in the academic context. The participants discussed various self-care strategies, tried them out and reflected on which strategies are particularly helpful for which stressors.
In addition to these workshops, participants used the time to network across disciplines and work on their own projects. In particular, spending time together outside the usual structures proved to be very inspiring and productive for the exchange across subject and team boundaries.
