2020 was a year like no other in my memory. I took exactly one flight – to Berlin, and otherwise stayed in my Edinburgh flat, punctuated by some Walk With Me excursions in the parks of the city, talking to people on the phone.
Like many others, I set up my home office and struggled with my wifi, and a new world of Zoom, and feeling stuck at my desk. I remember the early days of the pandemic, the eerie quiet on the streets, the sense of ‘I shouldn’t even be out here,’ the sense of gloom, helplessness, the fear of getting the virus, putting on a brave face, the daily press conferences by inept politicians. I remember the optimists (it will be over in three months) and the realists (this will take a long time before it gets better). Never before had news just become about one thing, 24/7: Covid 19. It was, it is, unprecedented in my life time.
Like many others, 2020 was a year of introspection, of meditation workshops, and online yoga, of trying to see the world from a new perspective. In the last quarter of 2020, a decision was forming in my head and heart that my work at Scottish Documentary Institute, after 16.9 years, had come to an end. That I wanted to try something else, find my own voice, come back to writing, amongst other things, and dare to “suck at something new”. I knew I would miss my colleagues terribly. But having had to work from home already, the transition was quite seamless. Fast forward to Christmas 2020, and I had a Zoom good bye party with my colleagues, and an in person brunch with two of them – socially distanced over 2 tables – and in January 2021 I set out to launch my own adventure.
I’m calling it Sonja Henrici Creates because I don’t want to hide behind a name. It’s a challenge to myself. I still want to collaborate a lot, but I want to signpost that under my banner, you get me.
I thought I’d have launched my new website by now, but ten months into my adventure is as good as any. I can say it has been intense, gratifying, exhausting, exhilarating time. More on that later. This site will tell you a bit about what I’ve done so far; and in time, I will tell you what I’m making, writing, creating.
Why am I here? While it’s easy to say we’re ever evolving, because we hopefully are, I can point to a constant interest:
I want to inspire people to see differently so they can enjoy, understand and empower themselves.
I want to do this by using the power of story, film and art to live and love better and to transform our worlds.
How to live and love better – I know! I’m a work in progress.
So there you are. I’m at once overwhelmed and excited about my new chapter. I look forward to new collaborations and connections.
