Category: Reflections

Affinity

This is Affinity, an interactive light installation by Amigo and Amigo that was at the National Gallery in Singapore when I visited in December 2016. Can you tell I’m still lingering on the theme of experiences? It was magical. You should definitely check them out if their installations are ever somewhere near you.

New experiences can touch you on so many levels: heart, mind, soul. Be open to the possibilities they offer and they’ll repay you with so much learning and so many rich memories so you don’t look back at your life and regret all the things you didn’t see and didn’t do.

– Written by Natalie Snodgrass Tan, Quiet Space Ltd

The value of experiences

Monasterio de Montserrat

Throwback to early 1999 and a backpacking trip around Spain during my first year at university. This is the Santa Maria de Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey in Catalonia. It’s been nearly twenty years, but I still remember the feeling – if not the details – of the day we visited the abbey.

When I was much younger, I used to balk at spending on travel and holidays – nothing ‘concrete’ to show at the end of it. Over the years I’ve learnt how much more worthwhile experiences are, rather than the collecting of things.

Embrace new experiences. They keep you learning, marvelling, transforming. Travel to discover other people’s worlds and become more empathic about their realities. If you can’t travel in person, journey through books. When you do buy things to possess, buy less; buy better. Buy things that make you smile and your heart sing, not throwaway things to forget next year.

What do you value?

– Written by Natalie Snodgrass Tan, Quiet Space Ltd

Goodbye 2017, hello 2018

A year ago today, I bid goodbye to my year of crisis. In 2016 depression got the better of me and I spent the rest of the year hauling myself back to a better place. I learnt lots of things, including how to take much better care of myself. Like how not to take things personally, leaving work in the office, knowing when to say no, making micro-resolutions, not sweating the small stuff, and embracing lots of new experiences. I started playing rugby and running regularly, joined a choir and dabbled in acro yoga, and attended my first music festivals and live gigs.

2017 has been kind to me, and I’ve been kind to myself. I’ve been altogether more sanguine about life. I completed my postgraduate qualification in career development and coaching, then took the plunge with a year-long work sabbatical. In just two months since leaving the 9-5 in October, I’ve launched Quiet Space, established a website and social media presence, networked, designed and developed programmes, and learnt so much about business development, branding, sales and marketing. None of this has actually felt like work, because I finally feel like I’m doing what I should be. And above all – I’ve been proud to be part of the transformational journey of my amazing clients.

I have lots of plans for 2018, but for now I’m looking back to appreciate all the things I’ve achieved. I’m proud of myself, and enormously thankful for all the love of my family and friends, who’ve gotten me through it all.

Look back on 2017 and see just how far you’ve come. Notice what skills you’ve learnt. The insights you’ve had. The people you’ve helped. The new experiences you’ve embraced. The challenges you’ve faced head-on. The friendships you’ve made. You are amazing. I guarantee it.I wish you all an amazing 2018. Love is louder than all of it.

– Written by Natalie Snodgrass Tan, Quiet Space Ltd

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