Reclaiming the space

For the past 6 months, Ruby has been sharing our room, but tonight, for the first time, she is sleeping in her own room. MY bedroom is no longer RUBY's room, and its made me realise just how much I have missed it. I don't have to creep into bed to avoid waking her up, and have been able to potter around in the room enjoying making it mine again. I have reclaimed the space.

It was this act of reclaiming the space that has cemented my choice for my word of the year for 2010. Yep, my word for 2010 is going to be.....

SPACE

This word has lots of meanings in terms of my focus for next year. Firstly, its about the space I live in. Having Ruby has made me want to create a home for her which she loves, and that is a creative, calm, inspiring, homely and happy place. I look around my flat, and it is not quite how I want it, so this year I am going to be thinking a lot about the environment I live in. Its going to be about doing all those tasks around the home that I never seem to make time for, like recycling/ebay-ing/charity shopping all those old clothes that fester in my wardrobe, sorting out the stuff under my bed (GULP!), surrounding myself with artwork and things to look at that inspire me, and generally making my home a nicer place for me and my family to live.

Secondly, I'm going to be focusing on my studio space. I found out this week that one of the girls who recently moved into my space no longer wants it, so I am now going to be having a much bigger space to work in. As I mentioned in a previous post, my studio space has never really worked for me. Therefore, I am going to spend time this coming year working out how best I can use the space and then turning it into the kind of environment that DOES work for me and that makes me want to hang out up there more often. I know if I can get the space right, then my work and ideas will take flight and flourish.

Thirdly, it leads on from my word of the year last year, which was KAREN! I wanted to make sure I didn't lose sight of myself in the process of becoming a mama, and I want to continue to make space for myself. Space to think, space to paint, space to be entirely on my own at times, and space to connect with what is important to me.

I have spent the last few weeks pondering what my word would be, and I really feel like the word SPACE fits perfectly with where my head is at.

I am REALLY excited about what next year holds.