I'm IKEA'd out.
It has been ten hours straight and while I have only done around 6000 steps, I have been in the same room the whole day. Other than when I walked to the kitchen for lunch. You'd think that with all of this time spent it would look pretty good by now.
This is the result.
Ok, the handles aren't on yet and they will make it look less plain. But it is plain.
Just the way we wanted them to be.
The handles are black and long, so they will stand out, otherwise, it is quite understated and is a similar color to the wall - beige-ish.
Sexy.
This office room is relatively large, even with the cupboards in. And, because they are so bland, they feel like they don't take up any space at all. We should have two full desks in here, but currently it is just mine. I am hoping to pick up another electric one from my office, as they are getting rid of some and that way, we can both have adjustable tables.
When I deliver sessions, I am always standing, as it is far more dynamic.
My wife is not that keen on sharing an office space, but I am hoping to reclaim our house. One of the problems with the work from home flexibility is that the "home" gets lost and it all becomes a workspace. In my opinion, we should be working more from the office anyway, as it is more productive, but more importantly, you get face time with people, which can be vital for many reasons - including, increasing opportunity.
As Smallsteps is walking to and from school alone now, it also gives us a bit more freedom to both work from our company offices, as we aren't in as much of a rush to get her in the afternoon. It might only be a half hour or so, but with meetings and what not that are often scheduled at the end of the day because of scheduling needs to consider the US, it can make quite a difference for us.
But yes - "reclaiming" the house is high on my list now that the office is closer to completion. Rather than having work stuff spread throughout, we will be able to get organized and keep it contained, so that the rest of the house becomes for living again. Not that it hasn't been, but when we are spending so much time at home, I would rather there be more division between work and personal life. We are of course lucky in the sense that our home is large enough to create this division, but I do think that those who work a lot from home would probably benefit in creating more separation, so at the end of the day it is possible to just "switch off" from work, not even seeing it. Maybe it is just shutting down the laptop and putting it out of sight - but some kind of "end of day ritual" can help the mind shift gears.
As this is the "last room" to renovate (before the next starts in an endless loop), I am hoping that we are able to "reset" our homelife and create some better habits as a family unit. Find a new groove of a kind. I have been trying the last few days to rope my wife into some of the conversations that I find important to have and discussions on random complexities, but she is not all that keen yet. It will take time, but thinking down the track, if we don't start now, we will likely just grow apart unless we have more in common than a child and a house.
I think a lot about the various relationships I have, because I believe that relationships are the most valuable thing in this life. We can make purpose out of a lot of activity, but if it doesn't improve our relationships, is it actually valuable? And, if we are doing things that destroy relationships, are we good people?
Governments, social media, news, corporations... they all create division and breakdown relationships for profit and power.
However, if we don't improve our relationships at the personal level, they win. It really is up to us, and that includes what we might do to take back power within the economy. The division is something that keeps us from becoming organized enough, but if we were to shift our activities to become more direct interpersonal transactions, we build relationships that reduce middlemen and, form more lasting bonds. Even in trustless networks with strangers, there can be direct transactional relationships formed without the need for government or corporation at all.
But, I am getting off track.
I blame the long day of IKEA'ing!
Lucky, I have half a glass of wine left to finish the weekend on.
Taraz
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