There is something compelling about a blank canvass. The possibility, the excitement, the potential. The invitation to create from scratch.  

Well, life’s not really like that. You’d like to start over. Try again. But, you don’t really ever get to do that from a ‘clean slate’. Each ‘new start’ comes with your previous life experience, your ideas, your opinions, your successes, your failures, your stories, your state of mind. “Baggage” as some like to call it. 

Like working on a blank canvass, in participating in off-the-fence you’ll be bringing something into being that wasn’t there before. Unlike the blank canvass, we’ll be starting with you, just as you are, in this unique position, in this moment, with all the experiences, opinions, dreams, successes, failures you’ve experienced to date. Like a previously painted, still wet canvass: beautiful in its messy, unfinished state.

You’re what makes this process special. So, what will you choose to create on your canvass?

Our capacity for leading a meaningful life is enhanced or diminished in equal measure by our relationship with ourselves. In this module we will explore ideas about, and our relationship to, self-doubt, self-worth, confidence and power in both a personal and cultural setting, whilst appreciating the impact of the interplay between these two contexts.

We will look at why we feel stuck, indecisive, reticent, and we’ll explore how building a new relationship with self-worth can bring clarity to our confusion, appreciating the solid foundation it provides for getting off the fence, and taking intentional action towards our desired outcomes.

Knowing what really matters to you changes how you find meaning and purpose and can change how you choose to live your life. It’s a strong compass informing your decisions, making choices clearer, a place from which to view your relationships, and gives you a framework for navigating challenges and opportunities.

In this module, you will discover and name your values, consciously engage with them and be able to leverage the resulting insight and power available in order to positively reshape your future, off the fence.

Caring what others think of us seems obvious. But how about what we think of ourselves? “I am my worst critic” is true for many of us. In our heads, it seems entirely justified to think of ourselves in a critical way. We tell ourselves we have good, logical reasons for thinking this way. Unfortunately, more often than not, we end up holding ourselves hostage to these critical assessments without using tools to discern what is actually a useful reflection versus what is just undifferentiated yelling.

In this module, you will discover how to differentiate between inner critics, learn powerful strategies to manage them, and free yourself from their negative impact. You will explore how to relate to fear as a superpower that propels you into a purposeful life off the fence.

The way we ponder over things and come to conclusions can come from many directions. Our thinking these days is mostly informed by our conscious thoughts, which is brilliant. But, it can also be informed by paying attention to the sensations of our bodies, our emotions, considering our gut feelings. Or by taking into account collective human knowledge, for example through art or spirituality, and exploring our connection to it. Inspirations on how to lead a meaningful life can come from many sources and we miss out by ignoring them.

In this module you will practise complementing your conscious thought processes with other internal sources of knowledge and wisdom to enrich the breadth and depth of your thinking. You will learn different strategies to access your inner knowledge, capture the potent insights, and integrate the findings into the development of a vision of life off the fence.

Much of life runs on autopilot. We encounter situations and we just react without thinking much about it. This works fine, and it saves us time and energy in the short term. Where we run into trouble is when we feel we have no choice but to react a certain way. We may feel irritated, resentful, angry or depressed over our lack of choice.

We see our reactions as a passive, automated play that doesn’t allow for anything else. And we miss out on the active element that can shape our response in an interaction.

In this module we acknowledge our immediate reactions as passive, automated responses, differentiate between useful and disadvantageous interactive patterns, and develop a more active approach that can shape an intentional response in an interaction so that we feel agency over the interactive dance of life.

Living a full and abundant life requires us to make choices about what to focus on, what resources – whether time, energy, money, or mental headspace – to allocate to whom or what. In this dance off-the-fence, some things will be prioritised because they matter to us whilst others will not be within our focus simply because they won’t matter enough.

In this module you will get comfortable with prioritising. You will re-define how to set and relate to boundaries in a positive and enriching way, and we will explore how we can signal our chosen boundaries to others in everyday life whatever the circumstances.

In life, we spend every minute in one or multiple roles assigned to us by our circumstances. All these roles come with a cultural blue-print or a script on how to perform what is expected of us. Unlike actors, we do not always get to choose which roles to accept and which ones to reject. But we do have a choice about how to shape the roles we take on, and how to act them out in a way that is aligned with who we are and what we want.

Sometimes, we grow tired of a role and feel irritated or resentful in it, while others make us happy. By discovering what a particular role means to us in the present moment, we can shift to a more fulfilling version. As such, life off the fence means adjusting roles in a way that bring them into line with what matters to you and to make room for your new-found priorities. It does not mean completely discarding everything about it.

In this module, you will explore strategies to analyse the roles you’re currently playing and their impact on you as well as use tools to shape your main roles, and positively shift your role patterns.

You have come to see what sitting on the fence looks like, and you have experienced what it takes and what it is like to jump off the fence. Congratulations! The foundations are there.

Now comes what we call living ‘beyond the fence’.

We start by bringing together the pieces of your existing ‘story’ that no longer serve you. Like in a garden, in this new landscape off the fence, you will find elements that can be weeded out or recycled. Pieces of your life experience which you learnt from, and that were useful then, but now must be removed or re-imagined in order to make space for transformation and your future as you envision it today.

In this module, you will tackle the weeds. You will learn the concepts of letting go, and of actively cutting back. You will start to free yourself from the mental anchors that keep you tied to your shoreline so that you can – when you’re ready – sail freely into your future with a new tune on your lips.

After having let go of your old story, you will embrace a new narrative for the future. In your expanded awareness of who you are and what matters to you, you will choose who you want to be next. Honouring all of yourself, your experiences and your skills, you will define new paths that are truly possible when living beyond the fence. You will no longer have to choose the lesser of two evils, but will feel capable of creating your own third option.

In this module you will project your re-discovered self into the future and develop a compelling narrative which both supports and propels you forward. We will introduce tools to crystallize and solidify your vision of the future, and you will develop a plan of action to bring your future into reality.

This module is dedicated to you and all you’ve experienced and learned on your off-the-fence journey.  You will visualise your individual journey and celebrate where and how you shifted, ultimately coming to a place of your own making.

But we will not leave you feeling just inspired. Oh no! Instead, we will mark – with your fellow participants – the depth of your individual transformation and demonstrate how capable and skilful you are now of encountering the challenges of life by living beyond the fence.

In this closing session we will take an imaginative peak at how we collectively transform the world we live in with our individual path making beyond the fence. How stepping out into our futures with warmth, clarity, depth, and an unapologetic confidence, and by aligning together, we will bring down the archaic systems which no longer serve us, in order to live together in a saner and more inclusive world.