Enchanting & Romanticized Liminal Spaces
How going to a fall festival led me to realizing the magical yet practical role that liminal spaces play in our lives
I had a splendid experience at the Scarborough Fall Fantasy Festival this past Saturday. A couple of friends and I decided to go together and dress up. Their outfits were far more impressive than mine; although I wore a long burnt orange skirt and black top with a pretty black & purple-red flower crown I had gotten from the same place last time I was here, my budget did not allow me to buy a corset, and my desire for comfort demanded that I wore cushioned running shoes so my flat feet being in pain wouldn’t hinder me from being present. However, I would like to invest in a more creative costume next time around, this time including a corset.
I had gone to the Scarborough Renaissance Faire for the first time earlier this year in the Spring, and that was also a great experience; however, I enjoyed this autumn-themed experience a lot more because I am biased towards this season and all of the magic associated with it: fall leaves, Halloween, warm blankets, candles, pumpkin spice, etc. I loved that it went into the night, and was enamored with the vibe of string lights against the darkening sky combined with the cozy, medieval and fantasy vibes made up of various shops and people in their costumes.
I had a great day with my friends during the daylight hours.
We spent time walking around and taking everything in, sitting down for a few shows and taking a walk through a Fun House. We explored many vendors, including a honey shop, various crafty shops with handmade art, and even a book shoppe from which I excitedly purchased various bookish-themed stickers and a few button pins I looked forward to putting on my nametag-lanyard which I wear at my shifts at the bookstore I work at. This book shop also had crystallized books decorated with shapes of various flowers, a kind of art I’ver never seen before.
The food was pretty great, too– I bought a couple of pizzas and tried their peach cobbler and apple pie nachos. Yum!
My friends left before the sun went down, and I had the opportunity of taking everything in on my own, too. I love being able to explore cool places with friends, and I also crave exploring those same places on my own as a means of connecting with myself in solitude and being present in a different, existentially aware way. I’m so grateful I got to have both on this adventure.
As the sky transformed from lighter to darker blues that ventured black, I wandered in and out of many of the same shops I had passed before, appreciating the art again and feeling in love with the cozy contrast of warm, yellow-orange lights under the darkening skies. I heard a parade happening while inside one of these shops, stepping out to see people in pretty fairy costumes of multiple different shades enthusiastically walking past people and waving.
Even though I was just in the company of friends, I still felt a pang of longing, venturing to loneliness but not quite as I took in the beautiful visuals mingling with sounds of chatter from various directions. I loved seeing people dressed up in their individual outfits, and communing with friends and family through conversations and laughter. I felt a bittersweet feeling, appreciative and hopeful yet jealous, as I saw stunning couples in coordinated costumes- wishing I had someone to share this experience with in a romantic context, too. I felt that familiar existential pang of wondering about life as I took the night in, wishing I could experience this magical, enchanting feeling more often, making it a part of my normal.
I’ve been thinking about living in Edinburgh, Scotland over the past few years, in exchange for my current life in the Dallas, Texas area. From the times I had visited different places in Europe with my family and family friends throughout my college years, I felt a deep desire to move somewhere there; I am especially partial to a few places in the United Kingdom, namely Cambridgeshire (which I have visited) and Edinburgh (which I have not yet visited, but would love to– despite not having gone, this is first on my list). I would love to live in Iceland as well, and Spain– these come at a close second to my most desired places in the UK.
I especially want to live in these desired areas because I crave the lifestyle I believe they will offer me: one with a deep sense of belonging and community, an appreciation of education and academia, creative inspiration and a connection to nature. Just overall, I see myself being a lot more connected and satisfied, with hustle culture not being the norm and having the support, resources and cultural validation to be a lot more present instead. I feel like the most authentic version of myself will be set up to thrive in these areas. One of my dreams is to be able to study in Edinburgh or Cambridge for my Master’s in Sociology or in Social Psychology, and another is to open a bookshop in Edinburgh in particular– something I excitedly talked to my friends about as I was buzzing with inspiration at the Scarborough festival.
The gift/souvenir shop
Shoutout to the kind stranger who offered to take a photo of me here
My resolve to move to Edinburgh was strengthened, reigniting my soul as I wandered throughout the festival in the evening. I longed to feel that sense of enchantment and romance I felt from this festival, one that kept sparking flames of desires to create and express myself and to commune with others. Sure, it may not be this exact experience if I am to move abroad to the UK, and I will have to wait and see until I make the dream of living there happen, if it happens, to give a more credible picture of what it will be like to live there. Even if I won’t see people in medieval wear or other costumes in my time abroad, I will still feel the warmth of communing. I will still enjoy the sense of stillness as people gather, as if time is pausing to allow love, connection or both to be exchanged and shared in pubs and classrooms and on the streets.
I will still get a sense of the warmth I crave, of souls being savored, shared and empowered– individually and collectively.
And I know that I don’t have to move to Edinburgh or any of the other places in order to experience any bits of this at all; but I do believe that I will experience more of it, as a part of my normal, outside of the United States.
I was looking forward to my drive home after the festival, and took in the ethereal image of the parked cars underneath an ombre sky with modestly spotted clouds reflecting a mix of cool and warm shades. I played a few select songs and repeated them on the road, enjoying the existentially pleasant experience of driving on the highway at night, admiring the distant city lights from downtown Dallas and how pretty they looked against the black background. Some of the songs I rotated were “Runaway” by Aurora, the acoustic version of “Within You- Moon and Stars” by Valerie June, and “Unspoken” by Kane Brown, and I sprinkled “French Riviera” by PHIA and “Ordinary” by Alex Warren on this drive, too. I especially chose Aurora’s and Valerie June’s songs to fit the enchanting vibe I had been feeling throughout the day.
I felt the magic of the liminal space between my current life and my desired, hopefully upcoming one:
My singlehood dancing with the possibility of a romantic partnership; my bookseller role twirling with my vision of being a graduate student studying psychology; the version of me being off of social media waltzing with the version of me desiring to be seen and to put my ideas out there and connecting with people online; a dissatisfied, self doubting and anxious version of me tangoing with the version of me that believes in herself and is actively breaking free of limitations and leaning into herself to make her dreams happen.
The very next day, I saw a Daydreamers article in my inbox. Daydreamers, if you are not aware, is a company that has been creating a creative revolution encouraging people to reclaim their creative health and creative power, challenging the societal norms of seeing it as a luxury or insignificant. They have really helped me in taking my own creativity and self expression seriously, feeling validated in my prioritization of it through science. You can learn about them more here if interested– they have an app, are on social media and a Substack community.
I was amazed at the timing of seeing this particular article, titled “Existential anxiety or liminal space? How the creative unseen helps us transform.”
In this piece, the author and Daydreamers co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Katina Bajaj, talks about how sitting with liminal spaces have been considered sacred before, which is different from how they’re too often viewed today. Reflecting on this, I see how true this is in modern Western capitalistic society, as a US American myself; we’re often judged for being “lazy” or “unproductive” or just “slow” for sitting with things instead of rushing to make something happen. We’re too often conditioned to perceive ourselves for doing something wrong for not producing or acting as fast as possible– or, at least, we’re shamed for not acting fast as obviously as possible in the perceptions of others.
This reminds me of something that often irritates me– often by our elders at home and at school, we will be taught about famously successful people and how we should look up to these people in order to inspire our own success; however, the same people telling us to be like these “successful” people are also the same people who often shame us for doing the same kind of soul-searching and for exercising the same kind of presence that these people had to do, often amongst the ridicule of others who did not believe in their vision, in order to get to where they got to be. But for the sake of time, I’m not going to go too deep into this– for now.
In that same article, Katina Bajaj talks about the science behind how our brains are forming connections, synthesizing information that we have that give rise to great ideas, and how essential it is for us to allow that liminal space for those ideas to take form. Without allowing that liminal room, trying to hang tight to our conscious effort out of desperation, we hinder ourselves from better results in the first place. This reminds me of the concept of diffused thinking, where you must let yourself wander with activities like play, communing with others or physical movement in order to stimulate meaningful connections of knowledge, wisdom and ideas to enhance your creativity and problem solving. Albert Einstein used to incorporate diffused thinking into his process as well– I had first heard of this concept thanks to Nur, whose confidence course I took back in 2022, where this was mentioned.
By relating the science and societal connections from the Daydreamers article to my own experiences, especially when it came to reflecting on this past Saturday’s opportunities to connect with myself, my insight towards my own experience in this current stage of my life, especially with the events from Saturday, deepened.
I was able to use this scientific lens thanks to Daydreamers to better understand the beauty and utter magic of being in this specifical liminal space that I am now, and I’m filled with so much wonder, hope and curiosity that is helping me stay afloat amongst the fears and self doubt and many of the limitations I have been carrying for a while. I loved seeing through words and backed with science that this liminal space isn’t just something to get rid of; rather, it is something I get to enjoy, romanticize and cherish. Ultimately, I am allowed to connect to myself, and enjoy it instead of shaming myself for it in the name of productivity– connecting to myself and my deeper purpose, sitting with it, in and of itself, is important.
I’ve been wanting to take these photos in a specific place in my neighborhood at night, and ended up driving here after the festival to finally do so.
I’m excited to continue romanticizing the daily magic of my life, sourcing whimsical experiences and feelings from the bookstore I work at, on my morning runs, coffee shop visits, meetings with friends, in my grad school applications processes, my night routines and of course in my creative and self expressive processes. Or in my solo walks throughout the city, or in my amateur photography of various everyday scenery or items that light something inside of me and remind me to dream and look beyond the bubble of my own life— if not to look within it with a romanticized lens.
I’m excited to enjoy this liminal space itself, the bridge between my current self and future self, enjoying the pieces of enchantment on the path as I savor the glorious, fluctuating, shimmering waters of various hues underneath it and the grass adored with gardens made up of various flowers on either side of it– the side behind me obscuring and the side in front of me becomes clearer and clearer even if there are stormclouds blocking my view from time to time.
The valleys ahead I pursue beyond this bridge will be soul-nourishing, with hills of their own for me to climb and cross.
The bridge itself is a journey for me to enjoy, whether I sit still to bask under the sun or trudge under invigorating rains, making me feel alive amidst meaningful discomfort.
