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I know you may be thinking, “Okay, is Mike going to talk about feng shui or some home decorating tips because that’s not really what I signed up for.” No, I promise that’s not it. Plus, I am incredibly unqualified to offer anyone advice in that arena. In fact, the literal rearranging the furniture that inspired me to come up with this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday was an idea my wife had that I was completely skeptical about start to finish.
You see, my family lives in a small house. Well, it’s not small exactly, but it’s a townhouse that’s separated into three floors. The main floor has a loft ceiling which only leaves enough room upstairs for the bedrooms and a small hallway. The basement has no windows, no separate entrance, and although it’s finished, it’s cold, unwelcoming, and used mostly as storage. Oh, and podcasting.
The result is that we spend most of our time in the small square footage of the main floor. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s not much room for anything other than our furniture. If my young daughter wants to play with Legos, she’s definitely under foot for those passing through the room. When we have guests and need to put a leaf in the table, there’s barely enough room to extend the seating. And god forbid anyone try to do an excercise program on TV – you’d have to move the couch back and remove the ottoman altogether.
But one day, after we were putting everything back after our Superbowl party, which required a massive shift of seating, my wife, Stephanie, said, “What if we just move the couch up against the wall and leave the chair where it is?” Scoffing, I argued, “Then how would we see the TV?” Undeterred, she answered, “Just try it.” So I indulged her, thinking it would never work. Well, not only could everyone see the television perfectly fine with the new arrangement, the whole floor opened up for things like yoga, hula hooping, and – Lila’s favorite – jump-roping!
The subtext of the success of this rearrangement struck me immediately: as soon as the television ceased to be the main focus of the room, it became possible to engage in more physical activities. The irony of my skepticism as a television reviewer and podcaster was not lost on me. But beyond this, the shift felt downright refreshing, not only because the room was more open, but because the variety felt nice. It shook up our routine.
So why does rearranging furniture feel good? Some psychologists think it’s because breaking old attachments and beginning anew in a space that by definition is comforting helps reinforce the power of the sense of home. Some people rearrange to hone their aesthetic and identify what they truly love, want, or need. Some like to repurpose without buying anything new in order to feel resourceful or clever. Others see it as a chance to de-clutter and get a sense of accomplishment and renew their energy.
But in our lives there are other areas that require the same spark of joy that comes from a new perspective. Rearranging your mental furniture can be as rewarding if not even more essential than changing a room around. For example, I was often stymied in my quest to find time to exercise, and as if my own procrastination and excuses weren’t enough, I genuinely couldn’t find a good spot in my schedule. Getting up to work out in the morning wasn’t working; I already wake up super early for work. My after school routine requires me to stay with Lila while I do the dishes and she does her homework, so that was out. And late night was either too cold or too dark, and my willpower was simply too weak to force the issue with the lazier version of myself.
But when I really examined how I spent my time, I realized that there was a small window once my after-school routine was done but before dinner was ready that I usually spent bopping around on social media and fiddling around with my podcasting and blogging life – an area which already fills up way more than its fair share. With this in mind, depending on the day, the spanse of time I could use to exercise turned out to be anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour – plenty of time!
And this rearranging of mental furniture could be used to accommodate any number of neglected aspects of your life that you’d like to open up. Perhaps you want to read more or set aside time to work on a craft or hobby that you enjoy. Maybe you have some genealogy research that you keep meaning to do but just never can find the time. Or maybe you just want to spend more time with your family! Rearrange the furniture and see what space you can create.
Or maybe it’s not about reviving a neglected area of your life but about removing the stress of something that’s taking up too much room like an overstuffed recliner that’s seen better days. But unlike a sectional sofa, you might be able to break that time hog into smaller pieces and spread it out a bit to lessen its impact on your life. Once you shuffle things around, you may find that things will loosen up, both in your schedule and in those tight muscles you’ve been clenching with worry.
Here’s what I learned.
Everyone needs space to breathe! Whether you literally want to move your bed from one side of your master suite to an adjacent wall just to refresh a stale layout or you need to shift your priorities to accommodate an important but forgotten area of your life, rearranging your furniture both real and metaphorical can be very therapeutic even if you don’t add anything new. A new perspective can be just what the doctor ordered for a fresh outlook on your life.
Who knows? Perhaps seeing the room or your priorities from a different point of view will help you to see what’s really important – maybe you’ve been focused on the wrong thing this whole time! Maybe your easy chair should be facing the window and not the television, or, you know, maybe your whole existence shouldn’t be centered around bringing home a paycheck. What else can you see from your couch at its new angle? A new hobby? An old one? The kids you haven’t been spending enough time with?
So switch things up a bit! You may just discover that it doesn’t take much to give a much needed boost to your own personal feng shui.
I’m Michael Ahr, and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
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