Nobody described the dangers of working from home better than author Jessamyn West who said, “Whenever I’m writing a book I never get out of bed, because if I get out of bed I always see something that needs dusting.”

I know the temptation all too well.

My way of dealing with homebased distractions is to cluster domestic duties on Saturday. Just as I have a different  business project assignment for each day of the week, personal projects have their day as well.

After being away from home for the past five weekends, my house was dangerously neglected. I decided nothing was a better use of my time this weekend, than putting things in order. 

I’m even throwing in some extra chores, things that only get done occassionally, like polishing all my furniture with almond oil (which smells delicious). 

And I’m tackling the bane of my existence–my stone tile floors. We drag in a lot of dust and dirt here in the desert and keeping up with it is time-consuming.

To get inspired for this undertaking, I’ve spent the past several evenings browsing a wonderful book called Where Women Create by Jo Packham. I first heard about this book a few weeks ago when Steven Pressfield raved about it.

Packham has  gathered interviews with 26 creative women who talk about their personal workspace. There are tips, favorite quotes and, most of all, gorgeous photographs.

I especially enjoyed the diverse opinions are being organized versus enduring creative chaos.

For further inspiration, there was Mark Fauenfelder’s piece in the Huffington Post today: The Courage to Screw Up–Why DIY is Good For You

Years ago, I was living in a dreary little duplex on a busy street in Santa Barbara. I was also frustrated and stuck. 

One day I had a thought—totally new to me at the time—which went something like this: “Barbara, if you don’t take care of what you have, how do you expect to get more?” 

I swung into action, putting my house in order. 

Then I grabbed a pruning shears and tackled the messy pepper tree by the driveway to our cul du sac which made it difficult for drivers leaving our street to make a left turn. As the pile of branches grew on the ground, I found myself smiling as I thought about how this simple task was going to make life easier for my neighbors. 

When I look back, I can see that the decision to care for what I already had, was a turning point in my life. New opportunities began to appear and before long I wasn’t living in this dreary house anymore.

So although you may be spending this holiday weekend in quite a different way than I am, I want to share this thought from Thomas Moore: “The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.”

After all, cleaning a house can be a dreaded chore—or an opportunity to practice genuine gratitude. I know which one I’ll pick.

4 Responses to “For Me, Moving On Starts Here”

  1. Traci

    I love Jo Packham and am always inspired by the Where Women Create quarterly magazines.

  2. Dixie Darr

    I like Where Women Create, too, but I’m curious about those stone tile floors because that’s what I’m thinking about for my new house. Do you like them? Advice?

  3. Barbara Winter

    Dixie, When I see people on House Hunters swoon over tile floors, I think, “They must never have had to take care of them.” The problem here is the wide grout strips AND all the dust and dirt that get tracked in. I have to wash scatter rugs frequently because of the dirt. The grout in the tile gets filthy and the only way I know to clean it is by hand which is unbelievably tedious. The entire house except for the two bedrooms have tile floors. They feel wonderfully cool in summer, but be prepared to use up a lot of dust mops and buckets of water.

  4. Heather Plett

    I’ve had a similar epiphany lately. I’ve been reading Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior and was really struck by a passage that said that we are all responsible for keeping our homes and places of business in order because we need to make it comfortable for other people. I didn’t really think of my messes as infringing on other people’s comfort before.

    I spent yesterday morning cleaning some of those pesky areas of the house that become catch-alls for the stuff you don’t know where to put.

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