The wonderful world of the desk

I probably couldn’t use my 2 hands to count the number of times per day my phone used to fall on the floor. My phone would always be precariously balanced on the back of the sofa, my laptop on my knees with my notepad (that was larger than the width of the arm of the sofa) balanced to write notes. Pens would fall down into what became the graveyard for writing utensils and finding another would be like a more frustrating and much less fun version of hide and seek.  My papers would come apart from my notepad and since I had taken over where my Mum’s work from home space was, they would become entwined in the communal paperwork pile.

In lockdown my family home had become everyone’s office. My Dad set up his space in the garage and I thought he’d finally lost the plot. Yes, the desk was a nice size, but sitting amongst the tools and the bikes seemed a bit much. Fast forward a few months to when I started SCA and I was eating my words as we all wrestled to find a quiet corner to work. Suddenly his garage looked very tempting. We all often found ourselves passing each other, and more to the point, distracting each other with general chatter. It was lovely and I kind of loved it but when it came to the work it was frustrating and I certainly wasn’t going to spend my days working from a bed.

This was how I spent the first 6 weeks of this course. But then came the desk. 

The comments about its size came in thick and fast from the family (especially my dad who was given the grand task of building it!) but for me it was perfect. Suddenly it was a space I could have my brief next to me and even a 2nd laptop. Suddenly I had actual draws to put all the pens that I had retrieved from the pen graveyard. Next I found myself shopping in the stationary section to get ring binders to keep my notes together and little drink mats to stop water marks from staining the wood. I couldn’t believe who I had become, but I liked it. It felt nice to casually say ‘I’m going into my office’ (even if it is my old bedroom), because having a desk somewhere suddenly feels like you have an office. I found having a space that you can turn the lights off, walk out and shut the door after a hard day was great for me mentally and meant there was a clearer distinction between working and down time.

The point of this is firstly to show off that I am a proud owner of a desk (obs), but really it’s to highlight that a clear working environment is so important. If anyone else is living as chaotic as I was then I couldn’t recommend a desk enough. Even if the space you live in is tiny, having as much as a corner with a small desk could mean that you feel like you have your own office. 

Side note: I promise this was not commissioned by Ikea.