The best part of solopreneur life? Working from home. The worst part of solopreneur life? Working from a messy home. In the past few months, I’ve learned that our loft in disarray is something akin to having too many browser tabs open at once. I can’t focus and keep getting distracted by something out of place or not quite right.
Sometimes it helps to get out and work in a coffee shop or co-working setting, but coming back just reminds me of everything I didn’t do. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep, because I was thinking about our living room bookshelves.
There was no cohesiveness, rhyme, or reason. Like an endless to-do list with no bullet points or checkboxes. I pulled everything down from the shelves and started from scratch.
Was my anxiety over disorganized shelf styling a metaphor for feeling out of control as a clueless, rookie, first-time business owner? Perhaps. Probably. Kind of like those nightmares where all of your teeth fall out, and you can’t get a dentist appointment. (Please tell me I’m not the only weirdo with the no-teeth dream…)
After I had finally arranged the bookshelves in a semi-coordinated fashion, it was time for bed. Except then I couldn’t stop staring at my chaotic workspace and desk. There was nowhere for me to put all of my office supplies and electronics. I did the most rational thing I could think of at the time… consolidated my husband’s clothes into one dresser drawer, so I could use the extra space to keep my things out of sight. (Sorry, Holden!)
Sleep was finally within my purview, but I had to pass my Holden’s bedside bookshelf on the way. Besides an assortment of dinosaur decor, nothing else on the shelves had much purpose. So I commandeered a few more square inches to display older, retired cameras no longer in my daily arsenal.
When my head finally hit the pillow, I thought about how nice it would be to wake up and get to work in our loft and see all my organization in the natural light. There will always be forces outside of my control and things falling apart. Sometimes there is beauty in putting things back together. I slept like a baby last night.