Taking a Little Bit of Artscape Gibraltar Point With Me for the Ride
Integrating the best of each experience takes a bit of work, but allows us to keep some of the magic with us when we move on to the next place.
Good morning, friends and fellow nomads — present and future state included 😉
I’m just about packed up and ready to depart the Artscape Gibraltar Point community. Physically ready, anyway.
I had one last reluctant wake-up, not wanting to leave the tangle of duvet and travel-size electric blanket I’ve been nesting in. Finally coaxed myself out of bed, but only to retrieve my wool socks and cuddle up to the plug-in portable heater beside the writing desk. It’s teamed up with the old school rads to keep the worst of Toronto’s winter out of my room in this oldest section of the repurposed public school.
From there, I made it as far as one more big breakfast with new friends in the communal kitchen.
It’s much better equipped than your average hostel kitchen, I must say. You can tell this place is full of thinkers and makers. Artists who bake bread and treats to share when they’re avoiding the canvas or waiting for a layer to dry. Writers who test out the various coffee-making apparatus when they’re avoiding the page or perhaps celebrating a breakthrough. Composers who experiment with recipes when they’re avoiding the studio or seeking fresh inspiration in the hum and thrum of these shared spaces.
I’ve met each of them here, and we’ve been saying goodbyes and exchanging info as small groups have departed over the last day. Some will stay on, and a cohort of islanders are here year-round keeping the creative energy flowing.
I have time for one last slow, quiet coffee looking out at the community garden, deep now in its off-season slumber.
A friend who’s much smarter than I told me once, “You attack life and rush through these experiences from one to the next, but when do you stop and integrate what you’re learning?”
It’s a great question, right? And one I think back on often. It’s one thing to get a lot done and visit lots of different places. How do we integrate what we’ve learned and experienced with each new adventure?
For me, reflection through journaling is a key part of slowing down and deciding what to take with me from each place — and what to leave behind. Just as much as we don’t want to miss out on fully experiencing a place, you can’t carry it all with you when you go, either.
We can also combat some of that regret and longing inherent with missing a person, place or thing by intentionally bringing the best of it along with us.
And so that’s the word of the day: integration.
I’m thinking over what made my time at Gibraltar Point truly special and unique — and it was. I not only got a lot done and met some great people but feel like I had a breakthrough and know exactly what my next steps need to be on a few different creative fronts.
On reflection, I’m asking myself:
What felt good or not-so-great about this and why?
What was familiar about this place or experience?
What was brand new and surprising?
How did being here make me feel, and when have I felt that before?
Simple questions, right? Yet it’s so easy to miss this while we’re hurtling headfirst through life without a helmet. It’s not intuitive to stop and make sure we’re taking it all in when there’s a job to do, a bus to catch, groceries to get.
Then, upon reflection: how can I integrate the best of this experience into my everyday life going forward?
And listen, this doesn’t even have to be about travel. Giving yourself time for reflection and integration is a good practice for getting the most out of any experience, be it a job, relationship, project, what have you.
How can we recognize more of what fills us up and makes us whole when these things present themselves to us?
What can I add to my day — or maybe leave behind — to integrate the best of this experience and take some of the magic of this place with me?
I’m going to work on that. And planning my next trip to Artscape Gibraltar Point… definitely going to work on that, too 😉
How about you? How do you integrate the best of your experiences to keep them with you?