new beginnings 🌞

Since the beginning of my business, I have had a Mary Oliver quote on my website: 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

I spend my days sitting with my clients as we attempt to answer this question, navigating the twists and turns, the tenderness, the heartbreaks and the multiple layers of life. And now it's time to share an answer of my own. 

My adventure in Vancouver is coming to an end. I have 82 days left in my art therapy studio. The studio that reflects so much of my hopes and dreams. The studio that has grown with me and now has its own life outside of me. 

Folks, it’s time to move on. 

I first signed the lease to this space in 2022. I needed a place to land and do the kind of work that called to me. I was brimming with possibility and the charming space called out to me. Since then, I have poured my heart into creating and maintaining my studio as a symbol of hope, healing, creativity and abundance. I wanted my clients to find a soft landing place here. Yet, I always knew that I would not be here forever. 

trusting the process of change

I have lived in Vancouver for 7 years. My family is in Ontario, and since I have been gone, I have missed birthdays, engagements, births, housewarmings. I’ve flown back for holidays, funerals and weddings. I have received several devastating phone calls sharing the news of the people we have lost. And I have answered excited Facetimes with engagement rings and infants filling the screen. 

Last year I made the decision that I would stay until the end of my studio lease, wrap up my work here and venture into the great unknown. Moving back to Ontario. Figuring out what I want my life and my business to look like once I am there. Finding my way back into the community and care that I have yearned for for so many years here by myself. I don’t know what to expect, but I do know that I will be held there. Afterall, I learned how to create a soft landing place from them.   

In the past month I have sat with so many emotions. The heartbreak of telling my clients I am moving. The fear of letting go. The fizzy effervescence of possibility. The grief as I mourn my life here. The relief of stability and homecoming. The depth of love for my communities. The push and pull between here and there. 

And I want to share that this is good, and this is tender, and this is life. Thank you for being here as I learned how to exist authentically. As I built my business and now as I tear it down. Unweaving and reweaving the threads of my life.   

I have 82 days left in my studio and 168 days left in Vancouver. If you have ever wanted to join me in this space, now is the time. I will be offering individual 4-8 session programs to explore authenticity, creative expression, slowing down and letting go of perfectionism. Weaving club is still going strong every Thursday evening. And my final art therapy group New Beginnings will begin April 1.

Sending you warmth, care and gratitude, 

Elspeth