Alternative workspace: Library version
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| Bibi McBarky Butt |
I like sleeping around. For as long as I can remember I’ve enjoyed falling asleep in places other than my bed.
It was so commonplace in college for me to be found snoozing in unusual spots that it became a meme. My tightest buddy from college still brings it up.
I’ve slept in other people’s beds of course, but those are stories for another time.
<wink>
More adventurously it’s been in any ole nook I could squeeze myself into or onto. Bean bags, hammocks, grassy knolls, against trees, on discarded tires, on a pile of laundry. In cars, vans, boats, campers. On carpets, throw pillows, beach towels, chairs not meant in the slightest for sleep. Against a backpack or briefcase. On the bank of a river, on a picnic table at a rest area, curled up in a cave, in the hollow of rock on a cliff.
I’ve even managed to nod off in a kayak while on open water. You have to slink down as far as you can go for that, position your paddle perpendicular across the cockpit with your arms resting on it . . . and then pray you’ll wake quickly should your head loll and body sag too far in one direction.
It’s always best to awaken before the splash.
I’m a napper, there’s no wrong way to do it.
It’s the same for your creative work.
It turns out that changing up your work space does wonders for spurring creative thought.
Because of a home renovation project I sought alternative work spaces for a few weeks. I may touch on other locations in the future but today I have to extol the virtues of the library.
(The food court at the mall is a good one as long as you have grazing discipline.)
A couple of hours in a library spurs immersion.
This post on the homeless but not bikeless guy came about because of those library sojourns.
A library has all the amenities you’ll want for accomplishing good work:
- wifi
- clean bathrooms
- quiet, sweet quiet
- comfortable but not drowsiness-inducing chairs
- desks or tables to work on
- electric outlets
- clean bathrooms (important enough to mention twice)
Best of all is the intense focus occurring all around you at a library. Everyone is deep into their own work. There’s a hushed hum of concentration that draws the best from you.
If you like being around people while you work, but not so much that you want to actually speak to them, the library’s for you.
For you —
Evan Griffith
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Click here for (occasional) notes at the intersection of creativity and spirit. Once a month, maybe.
Want to spark your creative best? Check out this little book:
