My family and I are immensely privileged to be custodians of a stunning piece of the Australian landscape, and a studio, on the Macquarie River, just west of Dubbo, which the AirBnB platform has allowed us to share with over 230 guests over the last 4 years. That brings me great joy.
A couple of years ago I found myself in a really uncomfortable mental space and having tried, what I thought at the time, was everything, with no improvement, my last ditch effort was to admit myself to a psych hospital. The three week stay was the turning point I needed, but it didn't need to be that extreme, it was just that it was the only option left available to me, or so I thought.
The element I needed most from the experience was the excuse to totally dropout of society for that period, to turn off my phone, to sleep without guilt, to be fed without cooking, to have the responsibilities of being a mum, an employee, a wife, a sister, a committee member, a daughter and even a friend, removed for a bit.
One day during my stay I took myself up to the local cinema (a huge feat given my aversion to human contact at the time), bought a gargantuan box of popcorn and watched the soapiest film I could find. I came back to the hospital and cried and journaled and cried some more, it was intensely cathartic and not something I was able to do in my "normal" day to day because demands on my time would always kick in which meant that I wasn't able to let myself unravel.
On other days I would spend as much time as possible in the art room, just creating for the sake of spending the moment with a brush in my hand. I really enjoyed the banter of the others in the room, laughing about how we were deemed the loonies and yet here we were able to indulge in what has become in our upside down culture, the rare luxury of creative, healing, connecting time. We mused on the fact that actually we might be the sane ones!
So what's the connection to these two seemingly incongruous points? I would like to make our studio space available as a "loony bin" for anyone who just needs to tap out for a bit. My lived experience of mental wellbeing is that it's the circuit breakers, no matter how big or small, that make the most impact. An opportunity to break the cycle, to catch your breath, to see with fresh eyes and most importantly to let yourself receive the gift of nature and the human spirit.
If you, or someone you know, needs time out (and not in the naughty corner!) get in touch, we'll hatch a plan, I can do loony mates rates!
For more info follow this link Riverside studio or email me.
