Supposedly, making a big break in routine is good for creativity because it forces the brain to make new connections and pathways. The example I’ve seen most often is that brushing your teeth with the opposite hand from the one you usually use will make you a bit more creative all day because you’ll have set yourself up for thinking differently, or taking a different route to and from work will make you more creative. If that’s the case then a big move like the one I made should make my creativity explode because I’m having to rethink everything.

A lot of that comes from fitting a two-bedroom house (one bedroom used as an office) with two living areas into a small one-bedroom apartment. Along the way, I got rid of several bookcases, a large desk, and a lot of plastic storage baskets and bins. That means I can’t put things away in the same places where they were in the old house. I started to automatically shelve books on the same bookcase where they were in the old house, then stopped to consider when I use those books. For instance, I started to put my writing books on the same bookcase where they used to go, but it’s now serving as my entryway. It used to sit beside my desk, so I could swivel in my desk chair and get to those books for reference. Now there’s a different bookcase in my office area. I moved the writing books over there so I could get to them when I was writing and put other books on that shelf.

Setting up the kitchen also forced me to rethink things. There aren’t a lot of cabinets in the tiny kitchen here, though there is a large pantry. I automatically put the dishes in the cabinet near the sink, over the dish drainer. That would be an obvious and convenient place for them, but that cabinet is small and up high. The rack I have for inside a cabinet that allows you to stack dishes and still be able to access them didn’t fit in that cabinet, so I would have had to stack dishes a different way. I couldn’t make them all fit, and it was up high enough that I’d have needed a step stool to reach some of the dishes. Then I got the bright idea to put that dish rack in the pantry, where it fits. I have the dishes I don’t use often on the top shelf of the cabinet, and I moved some of the things from the pantry to the cabinet. It’s maybe a bit of a pain to go to the hall where the pantry is to get out the dishes, but I wash dishes daily, so I’m mostly just getting them out of the dish drainer, anyway. I do still automatically reach for that cabinet, but I’m starting to develop some different habits.

I was having trouble finding a good place to do yoga. In my old house, I had a big open space between the sofa and TV. I could put on a YouTube yoga video and roll out the mat in front of the TV. Here, the only space in the living room is in the path from the front door toward the kitchen area, and it was pretty cramped. Then I realized that I have a nice, big open area in my bedroom. I can bring my laptop in there for the videos. It was a big mindset shift to exercise in the bedroom, but I had room to move, and it was a rather peaceful setting.

Then there are all the other changes to get used to, like going to different grocery stores. They have a Kroger here, but it’s vastly different from the one in my old neighborhood, and they have stores we didn’t have back there. I’m figuring out which one I like best. I tried a new one yesterday, and I’m not sure what I think. It was probably closest to being like the Kroger in my old neighborhood, but it had just enough differences to throw me off. It seems like different things are less expensive in each of the stores I’ve tried, so I may have to go to multiple stores to get everything I need.

I’m still reworking and rewiring habits to figure out what works best for the way I’m living now, and I’ll have to do it all over again when I get a new house. I think the year of living in a really small space will help me learn what’s essential, and I’ll certainly appreciate having a real office again.

Now we’ll see if my creativity explodes because of all this.