An ode to pretty things, Part II

Your environment affects your work.

Going the extra mile in the way you build and deliver your work has massive payoff, as Rachel mentions, in creating a valuable relationship with whoever is receiving or interacting with your work. On a more subtle scale, it builds a special relationship with yourself. Like habiting yourself into making your bed every morning or washing all the dishes before you go to sleep (most of the time, lol), these small chores have a purpose. It’s to clear space. To tidy. To take care. Making the effort to create work, environments and even a headspace that you’re proud of does something really important. It helps you find fulfillment within yourself. And opens a special space for your creativity and gifts to arrive.

A note: The fact that there is such a cause/effect around how we build the space inside our heads (our thoughts, our attention, our compartmentalization, etc.) is enough juice for a dedicated edition of this newsletter - so I’ll save it for that and we’ll dive deep.

Today, let’s consider the energy of *things*. While I am very FOR the “woo-woo” of it all…y’all, this is scientific. A long list of history’s greatest philosophers and scientists, like Schrödinger and Einstein, have been belting this truth at the top of their lungs from the beginning. Everything is made of energy. Everything is vibration. Today, quantum physicists are layering on the levels of how energetic we and the objects around us are and even making research-backed cases for how we’re connected to…all of it. 

So, things and your work. Let’s make the connection. I’ll start by airing my dirty laundry to level the playing field. I am a freelance writer. I work mostly from home, or occasionally on hard wooden benches in neighborhood coffee shops. I do not have a dedicated work desk at my apartment. So, I often bounce from a small dining table to a couch, to a chair to even the floor while I work. I cannot tell you…I cannot count the times, because they are so plentiful, that I have worked among such destruction of my own making. For example, coffee and tea mugs (like 3!) and crusty empty lunch dishes still there at 8pm, and with my table also my catch-all when I walk in the door, I’ve often worked on top of crumpled receipts, my rechargeable bicycle lights, wallet, empty smoothie cup, mail, winter beanie and laundry quarters, too. 🥴 I’ll spare you the details of the far too frequent contents piled on my couch (my entire closet) and the general disarray my apartment sometimes endures because I’m “busy”.

The point is, I’ve started to learn that working in these conditions isn’t actually working. I am in constant observation of my own life. So when I noticed a drag in my creativity, motivation, overall calmness, and brightness in my mind, I looked at allll the factors and considered a lot of different stuff. Was my diet well-rounded and healthy? Yes. Was my sleep consistent-ish? Yes. Were big life events distracting me? Maybe, but I was handling those the best I knew how. 

Everything was pretty good. I was just working in a tiny table-sized chaotic world of my own making, and subtly, slowly, it was sucking all my energy and creating a seriously unsettled sensation of unrest and lack of focus that was really hindering my ability to make work I was proud of.

All that to say, your space matters. Like, literally, make space. This counts if you work at a desk in an office too. Clean up. The fastest way to a clearer, crisper mind is to remove some of the junk inside of it. And, here we come, back around! - since everything is energy (!!!), your physical junk is claiming space up there, too. 

So, officially, Step 1:

Make space, clean up, and hold yourself accountable. I heard someone mention once that they do a 10-minute nightly tidy as part of their night-time routine, and I thought, I can do that! I chose to do mine in the evening, and another one midday. I set an actual timer, and focus everything I’ve got on cleaning up for those two blocks of ten minutes. It. is. liberating. And offers a nice little shot of dopamine to the brain.

Now, officially, Step 2:

Make your clean space one you especially want to be. Make it yours. Make it your own flavor of pretty. This is different for everyone. It’s actually incredible the varying styles and tastes that exist and the uniqueness around what makes each of us feel comfortable and fully expressed. A couple Q’s to ask yourself to help you get there:

How do I best process information and learn?

Do you need to write things down, pen to paper? Make sure you’ve got the best pen and best notebook you’ve ever used in your life. I mean it. Take time to find it. Or maybe you need total silence. Try introducing noise-canceling headphones as a permanent workspace fixture.

What colors make me feel calm or inspired?

Speckle them into your desktop background, the cup that holds your pens, the blanket on the back of your chair, a piece of art, or a picture frame you’ve got close by.

What could I stand to be reminded of throughout my workday?

Write it down on a piece of your Best Paper Ever and stick it somewhere intentional and noticeable daily. I love this reminder around creating from the Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules (as a writer and creative, this really helps me): there is no win, and there is no fail, there is only make.

What lighting helps me focus and feel happy?

By now, we’re all familiar with “happy lights” right? They mimic the sun’s rays to help boost vitamin D in darker (aka: sadder) months of the year. For some, bright light is way too stimulating. Perhaps a trip to Ikea for a special window curtain is in order?

What are my body’s physical needs while I work?

Do you need lower back support? Do you need to concoct a standing desk situation? Do you need a dedicated workspace yoga mat? Take real inventory and then GET the things.

It’s helpful to have a place to start, and real questions to ask yourself, but what it really boils down to is how you’re showing up for yourself. It’s likely that you already know the things that will help cultivate your growth, in your work or life in general. I heard someone say yesterday, in perfect timing: what are you pretending not to know? The issue is, we so often do know, in our minds, we just far less often ACT. So, if I may - ONE SMALL CLEANUP SESSION FOR YOUR TABLE, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL.

My 3 empty coffee mugs say bye,

Jade

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Links We Love

Want to learn more about the connection between the physical and non-physical? Here’s a good place to start!

The One: How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics by Heinrich Päs

What else should we be reading? Comment below!