Using the space of isolation to clear the workspace cobwebs

This new normal of being home all the time has me isolation nesting like crazy.
What is iso-nesting? For me it looks like cleaning, tidying, cooking, sorting, reading and reflecting, sometimes all in an hour. I’m like a ping pong ball let loose in a parking lot – suddenly so much space with no limits and no idea where to go next. It’s yielded some good things: my closet is now full of neatly-piled clothes I had forgotten I had, and shelves are now my own personal bookstore. But as self-isolation and social distancing become the new normal, I am turning my nesting urge to my creative business: the writing, and the earning of income from that love of writing.

Five ways my isolation nesting will serve my creative work:

1. Hammock time: not just for vacation any more

To the casual observer, it is a papasan chair in my office, topped by a dangle of white lights, in view of a candle and the window. To me, it has become my indoor hammock, my iso-nest, where I can sit, breathe, clear my mind, and write if the urge strikes, or not. It isn’t Hawaii or Italy, but thanks to my writer’s imagination and some vivid memories, it can be my Waianae or Camporsevoli any time I need it, which I am learning is at least 30 minutes 3-5 times per week.

2. Tidying my computer desktop

I am cleaning my desktop files and folders as I would my paper folders. Organizing files to keep into folders with names that make sense. Combining folders to eliminate duplicate files. Turfing any file or folder that no longer serves me. You know the ones. Folders full of to-dos and nice-to-haves and inspiration and such. Time to be real and keep the ones I am serious about using.

Seriously planning for those serious files –

to hold myself accountable, I’m making a plan for each idea and inspiration folder I’ve chosen to keep. What is my next step? When will I take that step? What is the end result? If I have no answers, I go back to step 2.

Giving my desk some love

And letting it love me in return. Placing files I use often within easy reach. Keeping only the bare essentials on my desk, so I don’t have to hold a notepad in my lap. Easing the clutter for the sake of tired eyes and mind. We are in a work of dual allegiance to tech and paper, so our workspace needs to allow both room and configuration to play nicely.

Taking Time to Read

Our elementary school teachers had it right. Reading time every day calms the body and fires the creativity. I have enough stockpiled reading material to last several years. No time like the present to get started.

Isolation is not vacation, especially for those of us who were already working from home. My nesting involves some of the hardest work I have ever done, coming to terms with how I waste my time, hide from my ideas and sabotage my creativity with stories of no time, too busy, too messy … you know what it’s like. And my nesting will continue long after we are again allowed to roam in public. But for now, investing a tiny bit of time in tidying my space – physical and mental – is freeing up a treasure trove of time to do whatever I want. Earn a living. Write. Nap. Listen to my kids singing Backstreet Boys songs in three-part harmony. Life demands a lot of us, but life is oh so good.

Stay home and stay safe.