“How are yooou?” cue sad voice

Humans are so funny.
I have been asked this question multiple times over the weekend during and before my sale, folks inquiring about my emotions/feelings towards leaving the studio. And my answer has remained relatively steady thus far:

”I’m actually doing really good and am ready to just move on.”

You already know - I don’t do well in the in between.

But the other thing I hear when people ask that question, is curiosity towards the situation. I know that it is laden with good intentions and people caring about me, however, when it’s asked in a certain way it’s almost like people want you to be more sad - does that make sense? But the thing about me, is even if I was more sad I wouldn’t show it to individuals who don’t really knooooow me, ya know?

I’ve already talked about my sadness and the difficulty and so for now, it’s been processed and I am ready for new beginnings (as any activator would be).
But people are curious.
Sure, they want to know how you are - but also, I think they want to know the details of the situation:

”Where are you going next?”
”What’s happening now?”
”What are your plans?”
”You are moving to a different studio?”

Are a few of the other questions that made their way to me and when I’d respond with:

”No plans to have another studio at the moment, my intuition just told me to do this”

You can see the look of fear flit across their faces for a second.
Like the bearded woman at the circus, there’s fear mixed with curiosity: WHO IS SHE?

Then they try to make sense of the words you are saying:

”You aren’t sad AND you aren’t moving to something better? Wow. That’s brave.”

I remember listening to the Quitted podcast where they were talking about the human desire to strive for “better” and if the next thing isn’t “better” it’s a dicey move.

But what if it’s not better?
What if it’s just:
Different
In alignment with current priorities
Strategy
Because

Isn’t that a good reason to shift the way you’ve always done things?
Sometimes I think the curiosity piece of the puzzle for folks can help inspire and motivate them to move beyond what is possible for them and so I use it as an opportunity to teach and encourage the idea that change, while not for the faint of heart, is not as scary as we think. Even though I have thoughts of scarcity rising through my body every 20 minutes, I still know that this is the right move. (I said it’s not AS scary - it’s still scary) I also want people to know that if something is no longer serving you, you CAN step away from it - that is empowerment. (It is also empowerment to intentionally choose to stay!)

And empowerment is my job.
Not running a photography studio.