Aaron Rodgers to Ponder Future at 'Darkness Retreat'

It's 4 days and nights in the dark
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 8, 2023 10:25 AM CST
Aaron Rodgers to Ponder Future During 4 Days of Darkness
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) warms up before an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, in Green Bay, Wis.   (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Some NFL stars retire, then unretire, then retire, then ... well, you know how that story goes. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has decided to take a different approach to determining whether he should stay on the field: He'll be participating in a four-day "darkness retreat," which is pretty much like it sounds. CNN reports he shared his plan on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, explaining it's four days and nights of total darkness, though if it gets to be too much you can leave.

If you manage to stay, "it's just sitting in isolation, meditation, dealing with your thoughts ... there can be some hallucinations in there, but it's just kind of sitting in silence, which most of us never do. We rarely even turn our phone off or put the blinds down to sleep in darkness. I'm really looking forward to it."

ESPN and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report Rodgers described the retreat as happening within a small house in an unnamed location and said the only outside involvement are the meals that are delivered to him via a slot. Rodgers says it's "a real thing, 100%" that he could choose to retire. He's hoping the darkness will give him space to "contemplate all things my future and then make a decision that I feel like is best for me moving forward." (More Aaron Rodgers stories.)

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