Inviterra Office: Inviting Myself into a Grounding Space
In the past–in the past 5 years I’ve really been into interior design. Especially design of healing spaces. I feel like I’ve been around a lot of ugly ones and find myself surprised by how much space affects people. Decorating offices spaces was fun! Little did I know how difficult I would find decorating an office space for myself.
Creating Grounding Office Spaces for Clients
When I first started doing office decor, I was still seeing people in person. I first had the opportunity to do decor for a therapy office when I was an intern. I really focused on:
What would make my clients more comfortable?
What would feel soothing?
What would feel grounding?
That is important to me. What would be grounding for them? That’s where the idea of Inviterra came from—a space where I invite people in, and they come in to ground.
Invite = to invite
Terra = means ground or earth.
That was my vision for the space I create for my clients—not only physically but metaphorically too.
However, what’s really funny is how the past couple years panned out. I was without a space for a long time. I gave it up because I was 100% virtual. This year I decided I would take on a new space again. But for the first time I was decorating not for someone else, but for me.
Originally, I envisioned a point in time where the office would have clients in it, but for the foreseeable future, it’s just a space for me. So, I stalled the decor project in a very enneagram-type-2 fashion that I didn’t even realize was happening. My office stood filled with boxes. It wasn’t a fun space to be. One day I walked into the building, saw my colleague's’ offices, and I was like, “Well, shit. My office is not done and I would like to have an office. Why did I put this off for so long?”
I was too focused on making my colleagues’ office spaces come together. (classic type 2)
Since I wasn’t focused on creating that space for someone else, I stalled in creating it altogether.
Creating a Grounding Space for Me
This is the first time I’ve actually tried to decorate an office that’s just for me. So instead of asking what do my clients find grounding and inviting, for the first time I think in a really long time, I started asking myself:
What do I find grounding?
What do I find inviting?
What do I want to feel when I go into work?
How do I want my space to feel?
That stuff matters! Space really affects me. I continually notice and realize how much space and environment really affects me. So that’s what I put into the office space–an idea of what I find grounding and inviting.
And for me, it’s all nature. Nature is the most grounding and inviting place for me. It’s how I find calm and peace–that’s what I want to feel when I step into my office. That’s how I want to feel when I’m with clients. It’s energizing but also helps me reconnect to myself. So this office is a lot about me and who I am and less about my clients and who they are, even though I want my clients to feel good in my office too.
Part of my office is me kind of acting in a manner that I am continuously trying to find my authentic self and put that into the world.
Hi, I’m Melinda
I’m a therapist who uses the Enneagram and Brainspotting to help 20 & 30-somethings understand and change unhelpful patterns, love themselves, and navigate all the big transitions and emotions that come with where they are in life.
WHAT MY CLIENTS OFTEN LOOK LIKE:
1) Empaths and “HSPs” who feel deeply and are afraid that something is “wrong” with them or have been told that they are too “sensitive”
2) Helpers or “over-givers” who want healthier relationships with themselves and others
3) Enneagram enthusiasts who want to grow
4) Premarital and young couples wanting to start their marriage off on the right foot