While reading the section “On Creative Places” in Habits of the Creative Mind, I was constantly thinking of my own workspace. “And even if we find a private place to work, there’s always another text message, Snapchat, or breaking news story to pull us out of our writing and toss us into the digital sea.” In my case this rings true, I feel as though I do distract myself easily. Normally, I am distracted by Netflix or YouTube, checking Instagram, playing solitaire. Basically, I procrastinate… a lot. Even when I am doing my work I have a dual screen on my laptop and have Netflix on one side while I have my work on the other. In fact, as I type this I have a show called “Skin Wars” playing on the left side of my screen. Though I tend to be distracted, I like the workspace that I was provided.

I feel as though I can relate a lot to Italo Calvino’s workspace that is pictured below:

Though it is not pictured in the photo of my own workspace, whenever I work on assignments I always have papers everywhere. It definitely looks chaotic on the outside. But on the inside, I know where everything is, and everything has its place.

I also relate well to this photograph of Richard Ford as well:

In this photo, Ford seems very into his work, while in a very relaxed pose. Whenever I work, I am constantly changing positions. Many of them are quite lounged: leaning back my chair and resting my laptop or notebook on my thighs, or even crosslegged while still in my chair whether my work is on my desk or on my lap. One other feature that Ford has that I also have is the window. My whole life I have lived underground with my mother in a very small cramped apartment. Though we did have a small windowing each bedroom, we still did not get much sunlight since we faced large bushes. So moving up from working under a bulb, to working within natural light makes me immensely happy. Natural light has always brought me joy, especially inside a building. If someone tries to close a blind or curtain I always beg them not to. Being able to work every single say with such a beautiful feature means the world to me.

I always try to make the best of what I have, especially after struggling financially growing up. Just being able to have a desk is such a huge joy for me. “You mean I can have a whole area to myself just to work?!” I though to myself when I walked in and saw the three desks that were given to my roommates and I. I used to have to work in my bed if I had any homework or art to work on. I started to get mixed up physically because of this. Either my body would associate the bed with being able to sleep, causing me to tire easily while working; or my body would associate the time in bed with having to work, causing restless nights.

My workspace is simple, it’s messy and chaotic, but it’s mine. I am thankful for the area I have, it helps me get what I need done in a very easily accessible space.

 

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