FMF31 2018 Day 25: CAPTURE

I am participating in 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes 2018 (all of my submissions can be found here).

Today’s prompt is: CAPTURE

Picture the image of a traditional recording studio (not that I have personal experience with many of them). They are often tightly enclosed, surrounded by glass to keep the people and sound inside, coated with sound-buffering materials to prevent echo and keep the sound pristine.

Photo credit: Flickr

I am reading a book about Aretha Franklin. There’s a discussion about one of her albums, and the fact that the producer insisted the album be created at her church. The producer’s logic was that the music (I think this album was faith-centered) needed the heart that could only be captured by being in a place of meaning.

The music and its meaning needed to be captured in a place that was not sterile, a place that had memories and echoes of thousands of prayers lifted in the place of sound-regulating walls.

This has been true for me, too. A place can make a difference in how my contributions to the world turn out, and how I feel producing them.

When we put our house up for sale, I moved my laptop and the rest of my “work from home” operation to my daughter’s former bedroom. I went from the dining room table, where I had spent what felt like 13 hours a day between working and eating, to a dedicated workspace, to a desk and an environment that is more amenable to “I’m here to work” than “I’m surviving.” (And the dining room table had to happen for a period of time while my father-in-law was alive, because I needed to be in the same room as him.)

The spaces we choose for our work matter. They are a message to ourselves as well as to the world as a whole.

What do you need to change about your personal space today to capture the best essence of yourself and your work?

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.