The forced or strategic withdrawal of an army or an armed force before an enemy, or the withdrawing of a naval force from action.
If you’ve ever heard of a men’s retreat, or prayer retreat, etc. it may seem odd. What is the purpose of these things? Is it just to go have fun but make it sound like something spiritual? Sometimes, that’s probably exactly what it is. But maybe it’s more than that.
I like the definition above for retreat. Specifically, the word strategic. There were several battles (probably throughout history) in WW1 that retreat was not the last resort plan, but instead, it was baked into the entire attack. It wasn’t that they had completely missed the mark and were now under such heavy firepower that they couldn’t do anything but run. Instead, they planned for weeks, in some cases even months, to build bunkers in such a way that they could strategically retreat from each one of them and be able to better fight their enemies.
They knew that their enemy would come upon them sometimes, so instead of letting that take them by surprise and not be ready for it, they retreated beforehand. They made it their game, not the enemies game.
I think if we as humans were more accustomed to doing this, we’d often be able to make it through life without as much stress and anxiety.
Maybe a bit different, but I think this is under the same category as the Sabbath. A day each week that you take to rest. To do things that help you to be rejuvenated. Similarly, having a retreat isn’t because you’re week, but instead it’s so that you can remain strong. It’s to be filled up and rejuvenated so that you can come back stronger than before.
When I had heard the terms “men’s retreat” “women’s retreat” etc. I hadn’t through of it in the context of an actual retreat like an army does, but I quite like it now that I think about it.