Review: Floating Space Review
If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, you know that I recently moved cities. It was my second big move in three years. I went from Western New York, to New Jersey, and I now live in Baltimore. For some, that’s comfortable. There's a thrill of adventure. For others, that number of big moves so close together, is a lot. While we have some connections here, it still feels like we’re starting with some type of blank slate. Old connections fracture, and new ones take time to form.
For many people, this is a familiar story. They live in a place, or maybe a few places, as they grow up. Then they go to college, or a job pops up half a country away. As people grow and move, they have to make a lot of value judgements to figure out what the right thing is for them. A lot of these you don’t fully appreciate until you’re heading to the emergency room, with your closest friend being two hours away.
Moving to a new city is exciting and intimidating. You not only have to adjust to a new job, a new home, and a new weather pattern – but also to a whole new culture. You need to fit into a place that doesn’t care about how you fit, or if you fit. In my experience, it makes sense that a lot of people who move around might stay as digital as possible for their social life. The internet makes it easy to find comfort in the uncomfortable, just the type of comfort that doesn't make you leave your home.
So what do we do when work, home, and leisure are all in the same place? What does it do to us? This idea is explored in one of the most incredible podcasts of the year, Floating Space.
I was blown away by this podcast. Not just in terms of tone and approachability, but how it’s almost like a workbook journal. It doesn't feel like homework, but like you could use it to outline some self-improvement. It's not a self-improvement podcast, though. It's a podcast wrapping you up in potential without asking you to be something. There is a deep analysis of the idea of “third spaces” in London. The "third space" is a term coined by Ray Oldenberg to describe the space where we can “just be” that’s not work or home. The “Third Space” had been pushed aside in a lot of ways by suburbia, but lockdowns nailed a death blow to the concept. Or do we just feel like COVID did?
Third spaces are for being social and relaxing. It’s for connection, collaboration, and self-reflection. Host Katie Stokes goes on a journey in London to analyze and discover what third spaces are available - not just to her but to others, and assess if they are valid options.
What I love about this in particular, aside from the cozy and calm production, is how our host takes us through London in a way that we can imprint onto another city. Sure, in the United States there may not be a ton of social clubs like they exist in London. However, if you’re in college, the United States also has a lot of sororities and fraternities that can develop locally into forms of social clubs.
With journalistic precision and personal charm, this podcast guides us through not just a roadmap of the options, but an outline to assess ideas for ourselves. The gym, as described in the first episode, may not be a place many women or genderqueer people might feel comfortable. Men, however, might do well making friends at the guym. Later episodes discuss low-cost creative spaces, public parks, and other options to find that community untethered to work.
What is the roadmap here? Well, it takes the original description of a third place and applies it to spaces in London - but the personal reflection and conversations that came out of this investigation could apply anywhere. This podcast has inspired me to look for local clubs, try new experiences, and give the world outside of my apartment a try.
It’s easy enough to create and listen to a roadmap like this. It’s another thing to go ahead and try. What’s special about this podcast is that it gives just enough of an outline to make someone feel comfortable with the idea of trying. It’s always going to be a process - but we have to start somewhere.
Where can you start? Maybe where I am. With a local chapter of a Podcast Brunch Club might be a great start. If you don’t have a chapter, maybe consider making one! Our life is what we make it, after all.
Listen to Floating Space below:
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