I was listening to the ambient radio channel Groove Salad tonight (I still think there should be a law making people play ambient music after a certain time of night) and it hit me how important my own sanctuary is. I am talking about the way I’ve created my own island space where I see out most of my day. Having a home and office combined means I’m lucky enough to be able to decide my own space in this way.
My mind started drifting back over this year a bit to when I was still working for someone else in the sense of a ‘full time’ job. It of course wasn’t the happiest clappiest time for reasons I’ve written about before, but I thought about how even now life sucks (that is the way of life) and work still has ups and downs – why then does it all feel so much more manageable now? You could say it’s because I’m working for myself and yes in part I guess that is true. I do think that the sanctuary and place I’ve created for myself plays a large part in it.
I know there are a lot of work places where the ‘ambience’ and sanctuary aspect is well lets just say lacking. I took a mental note back through my previous outside freelance work spaces and considered how they had made me feel. I can think of only 2 really that really made me have a slight sanctuary feeling – these were oddly the ones I was happiest to work in. I guess not oddly but hey I can be slow on the uptake. I am sure there is a lot of nodding heads but how many employers really are creating these sanctuaries or at least allowing their employees to do so? I can think of more than one place where having a few desk toys was about as much as you could venture into without disapproving looks.
Maybe it’s some deep psychological womb / nesting instinct, but I as humans we love to have our own personal space. We mark everything with a ‘mine’ from our bodies (clothes, tattoos, piercing) through to our bags and surroundings. Even if you aren’t into days out at Ikea I am sure you care about your environment and even subconsciously have made some decision to create that sanctuary for yourself. We all have different sanctuary requirements but we all need them to work the best. If you are lucky you get to make one, but there are a lot that work in places that don’t let them have that sanctuary environment – I assume this has a great impact on their performance.
It’s something that has been looked over time how people interact with their spaces. Just seems a lot of work spaces lack the insight to do this, or I’ve just been unlucky I am not sure. There is only so much taking a few pot plants and vinyl desk toys in can do. Tonight just made me think how from a business role the sanctuary I’ve created has helped and continues to do a lot more for me than a great many other business practices I have done. I can recharge and ground myself in my sanctuary whilst facing the day from secure surroundings that push me to get through to the night. That is business gold dust if you ask me.
