01/04/2023
🔴 VFMW IS CLOSING This important announcement hidden by the algorithms to be read here ⤵️
🔴 Curtain fall on View from my window. (🇫🇷 Scroll down.)
On 31 March 2020, 7 days after View from my window was created, my mother told me: "At 100,000 members, wouldn't you stop?".. I continued.
Today, 3 years later, View from my window is coming to an end.
I am well aware that this decision will be upsetting for some of you, so I want to share with you the reasons.
• FLASH BACK (for the newcomers!)
Covid-19 is spreading around the world like wildfire. Countries are in lockdown, the world stands still. is becoming an anthem for everyone. 🏡 At that time, I live in Amsterdam. Belgian, graphic designer, globe-trotter and curious, I have this urge to connect people from all over the world, to bring them out of their isolation and allow them to travel from their armchair to the other end of the planet, thanks to the photos posted by members. View from my window was born. 🌏
The idea has rather pleased 🙂. 3 weeks later, 1 million people had joined the community. VFMW has become a success story that the press has taken hold of. The group played a key role: thanks to you, it provided real emotional support during the Covid-19 crisis to 2 million people and allowed them to escape the media, and travel the world through these views - from the most ordinary to the most breathtaking. The community has opened the window to the imagination and hope of travelling to destinations we never dreamed of!
• “WHAT AN ADVENTURE"
An often heard phrase. An adventure is a series of twists and turns... The experience of an adventure can create psychological and physiological excitement that can be interpreted as negative (eg due to fear or stress) or positive (eg. sensation of feeling alive). VFMW is definitely one of these.
What is behind the scenes, sometimes looking heavenly?
• 24/7
When I created the group I had not planned my new life. Even though I was assisted by a wonderful team of administrators and moderators (I'll come back to that below), VFMW had become my "job". A volunteer job, full time 24/7, with posts arriving from all over the world at an insane rate.
It was exhilarating and thrilling!
The months passed, I only existed through VFMW.
I was doing 10 jobs at a frantic pace, with as many anxiety attacks as moments of euphoria...
A juggling act between publishing, interviews, logistics, exhibition production... in the middle of a mixture of discouragement in front of FB bugs and dysfunctions, of anger towards copycats and detractors (the "Trolls" in the jargon!), of frustration in front of unread announcements, of pressure in front of an overflowing messenger with the same question “How long does it take for my picture to be posted?"...
I had saved a few people from depression, given happiness to many, but I had lost all joy in life to arrive at a depersonalization, an observer of my own life.
I was surrounded by millions of people, virtual but I was isolated.
"VFMW took me out of fear and into hope. It gave me something bigger than my self to think about. It opened my eyes to other ways of life, to other seasons, to others homes and hearts, to others suffering and dreams, and to others perspectives & experiences of what we were all going through together. It was (& still could be) a beacon of light in some dark times. Put simply, I miss it." - a Member.
Your beautiful words inspired me to continue.
With the head to the grindstone, we can't see anything coming. Everything happens very fast. I was on a high-speed train, from which I was forbidden to get off or to make a stop because it would have left without me, with my luggage...
10 days off in 2 years. So June 2021, I bought a plane ticket, need some air > 15 days holiday in Indonesia! 🎉✈️🌴 My backpack was there, open on the floor. I was unable to fill it, I was frozen. Any task had become unmanageable.
I cancelled my trip and collapsed… the BURN OUT.
• 3 YEARS
We have to admit it: we are overwhelmed and powerless. VFMW is going towards its 4 million members... 18,000 posts pending, 1500 new ones slip into the queue every day.
A mammoth load of work for which there is no remuneration. There are hidden costs and administrative overheads, a financial cost that the administrators cover out of their own pockets. The group receives no help or support from Facebook.
All voluntary work starts with a meaning and a vocation. This was the case in 2020-2021. But now, what justifies this investment, in terms of time, emotional and physical energy?
Facebook enabled the creation of View from my window as it slowly pushed it towards closure.
I have reached the end of my capacity, both mentally and physically.
• PHILOSOPHER'S PATH
I just came back from Japan (https://www.facebook.com/.../permalink/1677271349568493/)
In Kyoto, I walked along the "Philosopher's Path" to the house of Robert Yellin who posted his view in March 2020. He invited me upstairs, from where the photo was taken 3 years ago. It was moving and surreal!
I realised that a circle had been completed, that a page was being turned.
In Tokyo, several media asked me this question: "What is the future of the group? I told them that I didn't know but that my mission was accomplished.
When I came back, my decision was clear: by stopping VFMW, I will have to mourn, but it will also be a release, which will allow me to redefine my professional and private future.
• THE TEAM
A Community cannot exist without its members and cannot live without its admins and moderators. Running a community takes time, untold effort, and effective and committed leaders to process, moderate, manage and ensure that things stay on track. During these 3 years, it is a total of more than 50 people worldwide, administrators or moderators, who have dealt with hundreds of thousands of posts, one by one according to strict rules, with their enthusiasm, their weaknesses, their emotions and their guts, in the face of an often bewildering news. THANK YOU!
THANK YOU to all of you for having posted your little corner, liked, commented, welcomed and supported a member from the other side of the world.
I have decided to close View from my window but the expedition will continue, through your travels and encounters. This is what I wish from the bottom of my 💛!
View from my window enters History. We created history...
if you have come this far, it means that View from my window have a special place in your heart. As little as 1 euro you can get “Highlights” (pdf format): 132 pages containing 80 views and life stories, extracts from the two books View from my window. A unique and global testimony of a historical moment of humanity! These are our family albums! If FB disappears, this will remain! Your tip will also mark your gratitude to the entire team that has dedicated itself to the group 24/7 for 3 years.⤵️
https://viewfrommywindow.world/highlights/
If you have reached this page, it means that View from my window have a special place in your heart. As little as 1 euro, you can take with you the memory of a group that has become a worldwide photographic and sociological phenomenon.The donation (of your choice!) allows you to download «Highlight...
