A Different Way to Use What I Already Had

Two weeks ago we got back from a vacation and I felt a little lost. My husband still had a couple more days off. The kids weren't back to school yet. I did the laundry... and then felt like I should probably start working again since vacation was technically over, but some part of me also wanted to reset before real life crept in.

Backstory

A bit more is needed before this all makes sense. When we moved up to this state I splurged on a sit-stand desk. My husband had one already and I had put off getting it until after we moved state lines. Then I started wanting a walking pad and pictured myself coding while walking but our shared office was feeling small. Then we moved, I got my own office, I mentioned it, and then discovered they were much cheaper than I expected.

In the end the walking pad was bought with a smaller sit-stand desk which was set up beside my main desk with the laptop between so I could easily swap it to either screen. I loved it and especially enjoyed all the new space against the opposite wall where I could work out. That said, coding while walking was harder than expected and, in reality (from Colemak, old keyboard, myriad of minor things) didn't work out. I quickly found myself only using the walking pad during WWDC and other virtual listen and learns where I felt I needed to use it and then my feet were sore the rest of the day.

Now

So sometime after getting home from vacation my husband started organizing his office... and it looked great. For me I knew I wanted to have empty walls to try to do handstands and didn't actually want what he was doing, however, I still noticed myself getting jealous.

So I looked at my own office and realized a change did sound good... heck I used to change up my bedroom at night when I couldn't sleep as a kid... I knew I needed to switch it up. I had noticed the odd issue with space and despite having the whole wall I found myself hitting the glass floor when using more of it and completely ignored the corner behind my walking pad. So I went what if?... and measured if the two desks would fit across from each other... there was just enough room.

So I did it! And in the process realized I should ditch the second keyboard entirely. If I want to type and walk I can... with my laptop. And suddenly there was space on the desk for other things again... which I hadn't realized I was missing.

This change led to the closet being organized along with the last bin being emptied... then went downstairs to the excess crafting stuff and organized them. Brought most of my stuff up, packed away some excess, and gave the kids more tools. And the no-room stuff without an official home became known and organized so it could be found and used easier. During it I remembered seeing someone on Instagram who built LEGO while walking... so I broke out my LEGO bookshelf kit and started walking.

I don't think there's ever the perfect setup... and even when this elusive state may be found we then change and it's lost again. But I do think we need to notice when something isn't working, give ourselves grace to be okay with that, but also recognize when something needs to shift just a bit.

And so I leave you with a little more space, found crafts, and a different way to use something I already had.