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changed the view This morning at work I surprised the people in my department. No. I did not announce that I was leaving. That magical moment has yet to happen. What did occur was just as dramatic in its way though. After years of doing nothing to personalize my work space, I brought in a mirror, two plants and a photo from my trip to Australia that was taken a few years ago. The mirror had nothing to do with vanity, but was used to add depth to one corner of where I sit and make the plants look more lush by being placed behind them. The difference made by having these few simple items near me was amazing and I am glad to have them. Due to the nature of the work that I perform, the room where I sit is very sterile and dull. Between the indirect lighting and continual white noise provided by the air conditioning and multiple computers filling the room, one almost feels as though he or she is inside a sensory deprivation tank. Any sign of the outside world is reduced to two things. One of them is the floor to ceiling window that allows a partial view to the front parking lot. This window is not directly between the outside world and the room. It merely allows one to see out across the rest of the office to another window. This puts the outside world some fifty feet from that first glass barrier. The second sign of the outside world is a satellite television connection that always airs the Weather Channel. Those are probably the two links that keep me sane. Why I didn't do these things before today is somewhat hard to answer and might seem odd to other people. In some ways, I never felt the need to make the job seem any more permanent in my mind. Recreating a part of my home there would have admitted defeat on some level or indicated that I was there for the long haul. Not bringing something personal from home to work also seemed a good way to keep a clear barrier between my time at work and the rest of my life. Now I have modified that feeling slightly by realizing that I may as well make my time there as comfortable as possible instead of adding to my misery. |