My computer chair sits a few feet from the sliding glass door that leads to my back yard. As I sit here I can see the stairs up to the patio, the barbecue, the composter, the back shed, my neighbour’s tall cedar hedge, the side fence and a patch of sky. On days when the words come easily I don’t look out there much, because I’m focused on the screen in front of me. I rush to get all my thoughts down before they disappear. But then there are days like today.
On days like today I stare out at the scene just beyond the glass door. It rarely brings inspiration. Maybe it’s my lack of imagination, but I don’t find barbecues or garden sheds to be terribly inspirational. Although looking up the sky sometimes stirs me to great thoughts, I just can’t quite see enough of it from here to draw out the creativity that is currently in hiding. I think I need more than a patch for that, I need to lay down on my back and stare up into the vastness to really feel the majesty of the heavens above.
The view through the glass door
I have worked full-time in offices without windows, where my only view was to the guy across the hall. And yes, it was always a guy, that was the nature of my work as an engineer. I didn’t like those offices, particularly at this time of the year. I entered in the morning in the semi-dark, and by the time I left it was dark again. I got an occasional glimpse of light through the cafeteria window, but otherwise it felt very much as if I dwelt in perpetual darkness. While my back yard vista may not be that inspiring, it certainly has it all over the windowless office. Or even the cubicle with a view of the parking lot through the next guy’s window.
My patch of sky
The weather also affects my productivity and the ease with which my creativity flows. When it’s dark and rainy for days on end, which it often is here in suburban Vancouver, the scene out my door leaves me feeling even more uninspired. And when the sun peeks up above the cedar trees and shines on me, I feel blessed by the heavens, particularly at this time of the year. In the middle of the cold, dark winter there is light, and it brings me hope. It makes it easier for me to soldier through and write, even if the ideas aren’t as plentiful as I would hope them to be.
What about you? What do you see through your window? And do you find that work better when that view is beautiful or would you prefer not to see what you’re missing while you’re stuck indoors? Please share!
I worked in cubicles, and I remember the unreal feeling of going through days in winter when I’d see no sunlight at all. However, sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by nature in my current rural location. When the sun sets, it’s dark, nowhere to go, unless you want to brave the winter mud with a flashlight. But sunrise in winter is just magic, even when out my window I’m longing for the rich greens of the warm weather.
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I love working in front of a window. I just feel like my brain needs natural light or something. I have a strange relationship with sunshine, though. I prefer days that are not totally gray but not glaring blue sunshiny either. I’m extremely prone to headaches, and also when I’m feeling down sunshine seems like a mocking, disapproving thing — ‘look, I’m out here all bright and happy, you should be doing something that belongs in an MEC catalogue or something.’ Angus’s bed is against the window, and I love lying in bed with him scratching his back while he falls asleep and looking out at the treetops and sky in the dark.
.-= Allison´s last post ..*************One Small Step for a Stay at Home Mom, One Giant Leap for…well, no one. =-.
That’s one of the things I love about this move. Instead of seeing city outside my window, I see snow. And the neighbors. And my son’s preschool teacher walking her dog.
.-= Emily R´s last post ..Mudroom =-.
i think i am lucky…it’s not that i live in glorious city, a town on the beach, or modern infrastructure…but i live in a little old rock house on a hill that has beautiful light in the morning, and a wonderful sunset view. i’m easy! and i love this “trade up” from my old confining cubicle view. nice to find your site!
We have beautiful views at our house, but unfortunately the computer is in a room with no window and the laptop doesn’t work well enough to transport someplace to get inspired. Plus, I think I’d need to actually BE outside to get the right kind of inspired. More than anything I’m inspired by quiet. Whether I’m looking out at the lake or the forest, it’s the quiet that brings to mind my best creative thoughts.
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As I sit down to work at the computer, my entire cul-de-sac is over my right shoulder. I see the comings and goings of the neighbours, watch my kids ride their bikes round and round, enjoys a decent sized patch of sky and a street lamp. This “view” is one reason we have lived here for 10+ years! Other home-offices may have been bigger or offered better storage, but I have yet to find in any other home (we have thought about buying) that has been so connected with the outside world. And that is important to me.
.-= *pol´s last post ..I’m so proud I could cry… =-.
I used to work in a cube too. An ugly cube with “walls” made of brown fabric that was older than me and sprayed masses of dust into the air if you touched it. (Just think how old that dust was!)
Now my view from my regular computer chair is out my living room window. My living room is a strange room that’s 50 feet long (no kidding) and has vaulted ceilings. The crazy people who built this room (and I know they were crazy but that’s another story) filled my entire back wall with glass to the ceiling. It’s a one-of-a-kind wall and I’m so glad I can see the entire sky and trees and eagle’s perches and my backyard from my chair. It’s a lot better than 40-year-old brown fabric walls!
.-= Marilyn´s last post ..Passages =-.
My worst office space was half of a printer closet, back when there were a lot of dot matrix printers. Yuck! My current cubicle is a haven compared to that.
.-= Lady M´s last post ..Another Holiday Flashback =-.
Right now, I’m at a place in my life where it doesn’t matter what my surroundings are . . . if I have time between changing diapers and entertaining my 4 month old and 3 year old, I grab my camera or I sit down to read and write. It’s amazing what necessity can do for oneself.
Outside my back window is a forest of trees, so if I can, I sit on my bed and write so that I can be with the trees.
Oh, and even when the weather sucks, I try to get outside . . . the light inspires me.
.-= Jessica´s last post ..Who is she? =-.
Hi Amber,
I’ve also worked in less than inspiring surroundings in the past. Right now I’m lucky enough to have a large window behind my workstation. My home computer was just recently moved to the main floor of our home next to a window. I find it much easier to get inspired there than where it was before – the basement.
Unfortunately I’m still working in a cubicle. Oh the joy! But I find my inspiration comes from driving in my car, even if it’s just down the road to get gas. I find inspiration down windy roads and I have no where special to go. I like to look at people’s houses, admire their handywork, their decorations, their window treatments. I imagine what it would be like to live in the large houses by the ocean. Sometimes I pretend those are my homes and I daydream for a moment of what my life would be like. Yes, for a moment, I think it would be fun. But the daydreaming inspires me more than if my life were inside those homes.