It’s been a few weeks since we gave notice on our Hidden Lane studio.
The countdown continues until we hand back the keys we have held for over four years.
Despite understanding the emotional impact of moving and its rating in the top five most stressful life situations, we find ourselves still dining at the smorgasbord of undulating emotions.
Workplaces, like our homes, are attached to our wellbeing, and physically tearing ourselves away from them causes feelings of sadness, regret, frustration, and anger.
As we box up our belongings and decide what to keep and what to donate, we find ourselves unearthing powerful memories of meeting new clients on our couch, discussing themes for our next podcast episode, planning a workshop tour with social justice activists and community organisations in New York alongside a spoken word Brave Your Day magazine launch event on Broadway (NYC).
However, our studio was more than just a place of work.
It offered a space for our dreams to grow and our fears to be faced. A safe haven to nurture our wounds when things didn’t work out the way we’d imagined and always a place to start over with another courageous idea.
Social connection
Attachment to places brings with it the strongest influences of identity, sense of belonging as well as an earning base.
For us our bravery studio also offered a magical place for recreational and social connection and aliveness.
We held many unforgettable Christmas parties with live music to celebrate and say ‘thank you’ to the countless folk who had supported us throughout the years.
With the band snuggly squeezed into an improvised stage, made up of saxophone, guitar, accordion and cojon, people sang along to old favourites, mischievous dogs eyed up the buffet and the wee studio rocked, spilling out into the mews courtyard under a blanket of winter stars.
This is why emotional bonds to places are life sustaining. They remind us of the generous people who have believed in us and accompanied us on our many fun and fearful adventures. Amplifying the love and friendships we have shared matched with the rich learning that lives on in us.
For now, we find each visit back to the wee studio gets mentally easier, with the décor stripped bare it almost doesn’t resemble ‘our place’.
Energised
Perhaps that also is part of the letting go psychological process.
When we relinquish control to embrace uncertainty, we allow ourselves to not be bound up in the shackles of fear.
In recent days we celebrated four new work contracts all arriving like buses.
Energised we have now registered our company virtually at a West End business centre and begun our search for therapy rooms for clients requesting a return to face to face counselling or coaching.
As for the future of the Brave Your Day studio, it will live on with a new tenant.
Our next-door neighbour Becky Alves from Level Up will be moving in as her own website and app agency downsizes.
Level Up is a four-person team that has found the transition to home working during lockdown easier than most, given most of their work is online. They appreciate this has not been the case for many of their clients, who have struggled.
Work balance
Now with lockdown easing the Level Up team are working out how they will continue working together in the longer term.
Many of the guys have found working from home offers more work balance with a young family and reaps substantial savings in time and cost of travel.
They have therefore agreed to carry on home working and meet up once a week, prompting the move to smaller premises.
Becky empathises but does not share their enthusiasm. She enjoys her morning walk through Kelvingrove park and the distinction between home and work.
During lockdown she really missed her team and despite daily catch ups she found it fairly physically isolating.
However, she recognises that flexibility is needed as we all adapt to life alongside the virus if our businesses are to survive.
After eight years co-working, her office is steeped in memories and she fears every day could amplify her sense of isolation.
Fresh start
When our Brave Your Day studio became available, she intuitively felt the hope of a fresh start, without those associations. A new home to decorate in her style and make her own.
We are delighted and feel like we are passing our ‘bravery studio torch’ onto Becky.
The unrelenting seesaw of the pandemic has offered us both a new doorway to walk through bravely unattached as well as boost our morale to create our mutual next courageous chapters.
* You can find out more about Charley and Colin's work at www.braveyourday.com. Or you can follow Charley & Colin on Twitter/Instagram - @BraveYourDay. A Brave Your Day podcast produced by @thebiglight_ is also available to download.
