Diary: Operation Reclaim My Office

Babes,

I’m feeling a bit pissy today. Do you mind if I process with you and form a plan?

Kids are back at school. I’m trying to start the new term productively and get started on my quarterly goals.

I decided to move back into working in my office instead of the couch. The couch was notttt doing my back any favours! And then as soon as I decided to do that, I remembered why I am not working in there.

Here’s why:

My office is an addition on the back of our garage. It’s not attached to our house properly, and was probably a DIY build. It’s been plagued with leaks and flooding, two of which damaged a bunch of my artworks and sketchbooks, all of which needed to be thrown. 

And it really upset me. I tried to joke about it at the time that it was a good way to declutter, but I felt betrayed by my studio. The place that’s supposed to be the safe space for my business and creativity to flourish! It felt unsteady, and it made me sad. And I retreated into the house and to the couch to create on instead, much to the chagrin of my back, and the part of me that wildly craves solitude and a room of one’s own.

We ended up working out where the leaks and floodings were coming in, and did some emergency repairs to stop it. It wasn’t fully fixed however – we need to work out how to rebuild a small corner of the wall that’s been eaten away by racing water. And then I just found another leak today. And it opened up all those feelings again of why I’m not using my office.

To complicate things – I’ve also long wanted to update the flooring in the studio. Currently it’s a fairly tacky checkerboard tile with a lot of paint stains. But… there’s no use updating the flooring when I still don’t feel confident in it not flooding anymore!

Then a part of me thinks: well, I could at least buy a new rug to cover up the godawful tiles. I had two, but they were ruined in the flooding as well. But of course: there’s no point in buying new rugs until I can ensure I’ve absolutely and thoroughly fixed the flooding problem.

I think what needs to happen is see if a handyman can leak-proof the office by properly repairing the damaged wall corner and remove the sink (which backs up in heavy rain and I’m pretty sure sends gutter water INTO my office instead of out, the motherfucker!)

Once the office is leak-proof, I can:

1. Get new flooring installed (or get handyman to install!)
2. Get new rug
3. Rest easy knowing I’m not going to get flooding in my business base!

And if the handyman ends up being rad to work with, he could possibly fix up some other office things like:

1. Patch the ceiling where the old fluro lights were taken out
2. Finish painting and patching all trims
3. Removing the old airconditioner and either replace with a small window or just patch it back into wall again.

Righto. 

Thanks for letting me bitch and moan and form a plan!

Onwards, with love,

FREE GOODIES:

  Daily-ish writings
  Weekly love letters
  Podcast: Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised
  A library of free treasures

COURSES:

   Sales Star
????.  Marketing Without Social Media
   Money, Manifesting & Multiple Streams of Income
   40 Days To A Finished Book
   40 Days To Create & Sell Your E-Course