Clearing out and cleaning up
When a swathe of appointments were cancelled we turned our gaze to something to plan for later in the year. A garden makeover and the Oscar Challenge served to make us think.
The week was set. It was packed with fabulous coaching sessions and interesting meetings. We hopped out of bed on Monday morning feeling refreshed and invigorated from an early night. Both of us felt full and satisfied as we observed our respective calendars. We bounced off to pilates and swayed into Impala afterwards to stock up on vegetables and fruit. The beginning of February was looking great.
“Ah my 12:00 has cancelled,” said Matthew one leg out of the car door, “She’s not well.”
And so it started. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. One client after another cancelled, didn’t pitch, mixed up dates, booked a session then backtracked on it, or caught up in a personal emergency, forgot to cancel completely until reminded by the pinged notification and message: “I’m sitting inside to the right of the lady in the red dress.”
A beam of light
It was somewhat disconcerting having all these fabulous sessions collapse around us. There was some disappointment and a momentary, Not again! However, we have learnt that all is not as it seems. So we did not let a negative peep leave our lips as we carried on writing proposals, reaching out to others, and finishing work that was grumbling in the corner for our attention.
Not to let an open space go to waste Matthew quickly filled it with a speedy look into a conference happening at the end of the year. Did we want to submit abstracts for potential presentations? Of course we did! And off we went considering what we would propose before putting our fingers to keyboard.
This excursion into presentation themes and subjects was an unexpected beam of light on work we have done. This included engagements with a wide range of diverse clients, research we have completed and results we consider worth sharing. Diving into something with potential and promise is exciting. Even though we may not be selected it offered us the opportunity to remember our successes.
Clearing out and cleaning up
Thursday arrived and, like a page turning over and the planets aligning, there was a noticeable shift in our fortunes and favour. A space opened up for an appointment that Chantal had been trying to secure for months for her brother. Coaching sessions stayed booked and remained fabulous. Meetings unfolded into energy-filled places of generosity and joy.
Our bees were moved to allow the front garden to be cleared and cleaned up. Trees were trimmed, new colour was planted and the beds stretched and sighed with earthy smells of newly turned soil and some love and attention.
As the sun set on a glorious Friday we reflected on a particularly wonderful day. Just as the garden had been cleared to make way for new growth, so, it felt, had the week. Far from being a negative, the cancelled appointments had allowed for a clearing out and a cleaning up in order to invite in the new.
It’s the Oscar challenge
During working time our focus is firmly on coaching, content, preparation and proposals. In the evening once we have closed shop for the day we turn our gaze to our preferred way to unwind and relax. We enjoy a variety of series and are particularly fond of watching movies.
Some of you will know about our annual Oscar Challenge where we watch all Best Picture, Director, Actor and Actress nominated movies, with the Best Animated film nominees thrown in for some light relief. The aim is to watch all of them before the awards ceremony on the 2nd March.
Luckily there is usually some overlap and this year we have in total 17 films to watch. So far we have got through 13 with only 4 still to be attended to, as and when they are available. Not all have been released for viewing in this part of the world.
We call it the Oscar Challenge for a variety of reasons. One, it’s a challenge to get through all the movies before the Oscar winners are announced. The nominations are publicised at the end of January and the awards given on the first Sunday of March. Unless we have been lucky to watch some of the shows prior to their nomination, we have a little over five weeks to get through all films.
A particularly challenging year
The other reason for this excursion into movie wonderland being such a challenge is that there are films nominated that we normally would never choose to watch. The 2025 Oscar nominations have been particularly challenging in this regard.
Over the past two weeks we have plowed our way through eight movies: Anora, The Apprentice, Conclave, Emelia Perez, Sing Sing, The Substance, Wicked and The Wild Robot for that light relief. We can only recommend Conclave and Sing Sing at this juncture. The rest, other than The Wild Robot from the Best Animated list, were a trial in staying power. For us. Others may disagree and we welcome and encourage a different perspective.
You may question why we put ourselves through this. We do so because it stretches us out of our movie watching comfort zone. Often we strain to finish a film and then find that it really gets us thinking. We have long conversations about the themes, filmmaking, acting and music scores. We can tell you what should win but probably won’t and, occasionally, what and who we are certain will come away with that golden statue. It’s so very out of our control and that’s part of the fun.
Movies take years from conception to screening and it is often luck, fashion and politics that gets any one of them in the running for that golden gift. Similarly the decision to work in a particular field, to keep strumming away at a storyline, being upended by world events and global shutdowns, has, and continues to fill our years. Not everyone wins, not everybody loves what is produced, it is the way of life and work.
As we find full and productive days following fallow times of clearing and cleaning it is useful for us to keep our eyes on our vision, our minds on the goal and our hearts on our “Why”. We may not come away with a sparkling statue but we will know that we took part in life, love and Work and somewhere we made the world a better place.
Until next time.
Yours in feeling,
Chantal & Matthew
February is a month of two significant birthdays at 5th Place. On 3 February, Shape of Emotion celebrated its seventh birthday! Later in the month, on 17 February, a special someone reaches a significant milestone, you’ll read all about it in an upcoming issue of Enabling the How.
Seven years ago, we set out to transform how people experience and engage with their emotions, moving beyond words, labels, and the overly narrow Western approach to mental health. Shape of Emotion was born, offering a profound, somatic, and transformative way to navigate the landscape of feeling, an essential piece in building emotional fitness.
Like any seven-year-old, Shape of Emotion has grown, evolved, and made a lasting impact. It has helped people release emotional burdens, find balance, and build resilience in ways that words and medication alone cannot. Over the years, we have witnessed its power in individual lives, group sessions, and broader well-being initiatives, reaffirming that when we work with emotions differently, we feel and live better.
As we celebrate this milestone, we look ahead with excitement, knowing that its journey is far from over. Here’s to another year of transformation, healing, and impact. And to everyone who has walked this path with us, thank you for being part of the story. 💙✨
Credits for this issue — Images: Midjourney & 5th Place
Written by
Chantal Dawtrey
Supporting women, especially in midlife and beyond, to navigate life transitions · Emotional fitness coach
Chantal supports women, especially in midlife and beyond, to navigate life transitions. She designs and delivers data informed digital programmes that build organisational emotional fitness. She helps people move beyond habitual patterns into greater awareness, agency, and well being.
With over 15 years of coaching experience and more than two decades in facilitation and human development, Chantal partners with individuals, teams, and organizations to build emotional resilience, enhance self-awareness, and develop sustainable well-being strategies.
Her primary focus as a coach is supporting women, especially those in their 50’s and beyond, to navigate profound life transitions with clarity, steadiness and self-reconnection. Finding answers to questions about identity, purpose, belonging and desire to an emergence, a reclamation and a return to self.
If you're going through a transition and would like support, let's talk.
Matthew Green
Reducing the Certainty Deficit in high-performing people and teams · Emotional fitness coach
Matthew works with athletes, performance teams, and anyone who wants to reduce the Certainty Deficit in their situation or context.
The Certainty Deficit is the space between what you can do and what your body will let you do when it counts. It is context-specific and situational. A person or athlete can have zero deficit in one situation and a significant one in another.
The body holds beliefs that keep the Certainty Deficit in place. These beliefs run deeper than self-talk and faster than any conscious strategy. When they shift, the ceiling shifts, and new possibilities arise.
Matthew is also an emotional fitness coach who supports individuals to live and lead from a place of inner clarity and stability. The work is somatic-first, practical, and grounded.
If you're seeing a pattern that current approaches haven't shifted, let's talk.
My origin story: Why elite athletes underperform when it counts
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