All Change!

Change can be scary. There is comfort to be had in routines, and the same old familiar furniture and faces – and I have always been one of those favouring a ‘putting down roots’ approach, rather than being a more adventurous soul, exploring our world freely. I have never found it boring, staying in one place, and have focused on inner-exploration I guess as this has always seemed to me to be like a journey in itself, because even though I stay in the same place, it is always different; the nature of people and how they grow and react with one another creates more than enough variety for my appetite. I will admit it. I don’t like change. I really really do not like change. There is enough infinite choice out there to navigate without also having to find my direction in physical space too.

To bring this down to earth, I am facing a huge change. At the end of May, Tang Hall SMART CIC, (which I set up in the grounds of Burnholme Community College in 2014 when it closed), will no longer be camping out in the old school buildings but will change its address and perhaps its identity. We aren’t going far … nothing too drastic … only to the front of the site … BUT it will be a brand new building, no longer looking like a school, and there is a new address, with a new street that has been created and named for the new centre! We will be one of several community businesses in the new centre, and will have our own wing with lovely new surroundings. So I guess I should be excited and part of me is, but another part is wary, because of little silly things like, there will be different doors and routes to get to our rooms, we will have different neighbours, there will be different colours on the walls etc

I had a conversation with one of our participants this week about change, and about how, even though she didn’t like the thought of change, this was not a reason to not make the change. And I know this is true, that change can be exciting, and in my defense, I can change when I have to, for example I transitioned from being a teacher of 20 years, employed by the local authority and working in the public sector, to setting up a music-industry-based social enterprise … but yes, I know … I didn’t change WHERE I worked … and really, even now I am just moving to the front part of the same site.

I admire people who have adventurous spirits and who feel at-home wherever they roam, and I really enjoy listening to others who have been to places I have barely heard of talk of their experiences. But this is how I justify myself to me … in staying in one place, roots become deep, and growth is strong: Tang Hall SMART CIC is the tree, the staff are branches, and everyone who comes, all the participants and supporters, well you guys are the fruit and leaves, without which the tree isn’t really much of a tree!