For Sarah Marr, associate executive director at Ardenwoods Retirement Community, balance begins with one deceptively simple practice: learning to let go.

“A big part of [work/life balance] is trusting your team to handle everything when you're gone so that you can actually take a break,” Marr says. “It can be detrimental for people when they never disconnect from work. Because that's where the burnout happens.”

Marr has spent nearly 12 years at Ardenwoods, and over that time, she has found a rhythm—part discipline, part perspective—that allows her to excel in a demanding role while maintaining a rich, adventure-filled life outside the office. A significant piece of that life is travel to destinations both near and far. Whether it’s a quick Allegiant flight to Austin, TX, for the weekend, or a 10-day excursion in Singapore, travel is a priority for Marr and her partner. 

“I get a lot of joy and a sense of wonder seeing the world and different cultures,” she said. “It just makes you realize the world is so much bigger than this little bubble that you live in. And we're so lucky to have the lives that we have.”

While she grew up in a “beach-once-a-summer family,” she said, she studied abroad in college and her love of travel took root when she moved to Asheville 13 years ago.

“My partner and I… took a trip and we just loved it,” she said. “From there, we've started kind of planning out our year so we know we always have something to look forward to.”

Their first major adventure was to Asia, sparked by an invitation from her partner’s childhood best friend who was living in Singapore. Since then, she and her partner average two to three big international trips a year, along with several small ones. The international trips are typically 10 to 12 days, which Marr said is the most time she’d take off work. “We are going to Australia in about three weeks,” she said. “It’s our sixth continent, which is very exciting… Antarctica is high on the list so that we can kind of tick them all off.”

Marr is quick to note that all the travel in the world won’t be rejuvenating unless one masters the art of letting go and leaving work at work. 

“Allowing yourself to truly disconnect and trusting the people that you put in place to be the team around you really makes the difference,” she says. “Just learning and accepting that it's okay to disconnect. And that everything will be there when you get back… Everything will be okay.”

This approach to boundaries didn’t come instantly.

“It took me a while to get here,” she said. “When I first started working here, I would never disconnect from my phone [while on vacation]. I would check my emails, I would answer calls. And then I would come back and realize I didn't feel like I got a break.”

Eventually, she recognized that she was the one creating that pressure for herself, and so she started to unplug on her trips. Marr models that boundary-keeping for her staff, too. “When they are taking days off and they text me, I'm like, ‘Get out of your work email. You're off today. We got it.’”

The beauty of a solid work/life balance is that Marr is more present at work. But her trips don’t just feed her personally—they strengthen her relationships with the residents at Ardenwoods.

“The people that live in our community have these incredible stories of their lives and all the places they've been,” she says. Marr often finds that she’s planning a trip to somewhere that a resident has traveled before, which sparks great conversation.

Because many residents can no longer travel, Marr has become a storyteller on their behalf. “As soon as I get back, they want to hear all about it,” she says. “It's been a neat way to connect with the residents here.”

Marr’s travels don’t just recharge her—they affect how she moves through the world and her workplace.

“When I'm having a hard day at work or dealing with something that, in the moment, feels like a big problem… taking a step back and thinking about visiting several countries where not everybody has shoes—it’s like, goodness gracious, this is the smallest little deal,” she says. “It’s helped me manage.”

Her time abroad also fuels her gratitude. “I am lucky and grateful,” she says. “I have a great job that I love and live in a beautiful city and don’t have some of the worries that other people in other countries have.”

Marr’s experience traveling as a woman has been especially grounding. “I've traveled to places where women don't have the same rights that we have here,” she says. It has deepened her commitment to supporting women in leadership at Ardenwoods. “Just how lucky we are that we live in a place where… we can do anything we want.”

For Marr, that sense of possibility—shaped by travel, perspective, and gratitude—is exactly what fuels a balanced, fulfilling life at home and at work.