As everyone knows, life is tough. My current day-time job is, as I often mention, very stressful. One day, as I wrote in a previous post a few months ago, I went to a park after an extremely stressful work day, to unexpectedly find that I had forgotten something: a peaceful moment. As I mentioned in that previous post, I hoped my new place would be my peaceful space. Now, it’s been about five months since I moved to the current place, and I’m still trying to make it a Hiro-style room, hoping it will be a place to forget about any stressful event. In other words, it will be a place for me to be myself. Slowly but surely, it’s coming.
But before completing my den, I should recall one thing: having my own weather. As I wrote in an old post, as Covey describes in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, proactive people have their own weather. On the other hand, reactive people “are often affected by their physical environment [1]”. I suppose that my “physical environment” includes my room, which means, I’m still “reactive”. As I wrote in that previous post, my former place was so uncomfortable. However, whether it is tidy or messy, roomy or tiny, stylish or dull, I should retain my own weather. To make my room comfortable to regain myself is not the “right” way to remain myself.
Having said that, making a my-style room is fun. When I rented an apartment room in Japan, I bought secondhand pieces of furniture to save money. As a result, the room was somehow uncoordinated because I bought each of them from very limited choices. It was tidy and livable, but no unity among them. Now my neighbour IKEA helps me make a well-coordinated room at a reasonable price.
After making my nest, a next step to “regain myself” is to remember my cooking style. As I wrote in a “recent” post (a couple of months ago), something was wrong and I couldn’t cook as I used to. I still don’t know what was actually wrong, though I’m sure something was obviously wrong. Now, let’s see how I have recovered from that. Hopefully I’ll finish “making my room” soon and remember Hiro style cooking. A cozy place plus Hiro style Asian fusion equals Izakaya Hiro!
[1] S. R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, New York, NY: Fireside, 1989.