This is currently my view, as I'm writing this post from my newly re-established office. When we kicked around the idea of buying this house, I asked to have the spare bedroom for my own sacred space. My intention was to turn it into an office, but I also had all of my craft supplies, a reading chair, a space heater, and a Christmas tree during the holidays. This was to be MY space. In return, I promised Kyle the garage, the other garage, and the basement to be his to do anything at all he wanted with. A few years back, we decided my room would be better used as a walk-in closet. I hadn't exactly given up my sacred space, I had just traded it in for a smaller, cozier office space built into our previous closet, in the bedroom. I liked the idea of having it be smaller (while the former office/former closet/new office is a small room, it's sometimes too big to feel cozy) but there was something about the space that didn't work for me. I had half of the closet, while Kyle had the other half, and if I'm being honest, I think having to share it made it feel slightly less sacred. Whatever the rub was, we both spent a few years not being in love with the new tiny offices, and frankly, not being in love with the new closet, either.
Last week, I declared that I wanted my sacred space back. Kyle, who was getting twitchy about needing a new project, was on board. We first decided that changing the areas around (which would mean removing our built-in shelves, reinstalling the closet shelves, and then a massive "patch and paint" job in the office) as our winter project. When we get stuck indoors during the cold, we need something to do to break up the boredom, and renovating something is usually our go-to activity. Turns out, though, that we were both too excited for the change to put it off. We spent the last week switching the offices into a closet and the closet back into an office, and I could not be happier.
I mentioned a while back that I heard about this Danish concept called "hygge" that is
absurdly hard to describe. Since then, I seem to have acquired a new fascination with Denmark, itself, and have spent a surprising amount of time learning everything I could about the country, including where it is on a map. (It's above Germany, FYI.) As Denmark is consistently rated as the happiest country on the entire dang planet, there's certainly a lot to learn. Thankfully, I have a compatriot in my sudden love of Denmark! My tape-pal (that's a pen-pal but with cassette tapes), Lara, was recently in Denmark because she's a big fan, too. I've been listening to her talk about Denmark for years, but it wasn't until my run-in with hygge that it all started coming together for me in a personal way. [This reminds me--Lara! I still have the tape. I'm working on it. Expect talk of Denmark.] I know that there's no such thing as a Utopian society, and that somewhere along the lines, someone is getting screwed in the system. But I don't want to go in search of Denmark's flaws. During this ridiculous time to be an American, I would like to just immerse myself in some Earthly happiness for a while. Some people mentally escape to Paris. I'm mentally escaping to Copenhagen.
So, I've been making sure my office is very hyggelig. The view out of the windows is of a fantastic autumnal wonderland, and I've brought in two bookshelves, the faux-leather recliner, the space heater, and this super cute horn thing I bought at Target that is a phone speaker amplifier, but also makes everything sound old-timey. We call it the "phonophone." I've been listening to swing, jazz, and ragtime through it all day. There are fairy lights temporarily placed about the room, with the intention of making them more permanent once the "patch and paint" portion of the renovation has arrived. As an added bonus, this is now the room where all of the cats seem to want to congregate, so there's that extra bit of fuzzy warmth. Essentially, I've created a new sacred space that is not only conducive to hygge, it's set my muse a-buzz with ideas. My creativity thrives in a hyggelig environment, and I'm excited to see what kind of new writing comes out of this shift.
