Reorganizing My Living Space

So today, Friday March 31st, was cleaning day. As we all know, cleaning house is never a fun time unless you're listening to some decent music, or you pay someone else to clean your house for you.

In my case, I had to listen to some decent music while cleaning in order to have a fun time.

So I got out all my cleaning materials, changed into a set of clothes I don't mind getting dirty, tuned my radio in to Highveld (947), and started cleaning.

I would describe with vivid detail how I washed the floors until they gleamed and washed the dishes until they sparkled, but it would likely put you to sleep as a bedtime story would a child.

In any case, knowing how well I cleaned my flat is not what you came here for, contrary to what Rihanna and Calvin Harris have been telling me.

What you're here for, is the story of how I reorganized my living space.

Ok, so it started with cleaning my flat (obviously, now please get to the point, Samantha). When I started with my room, I had to shift my bed to the other side of the room in order to clean under it, and while I was shifting it, I thought to myself, "Hey, why don't I reorganize my room, move the furniture around and see how it goes?"

And with that thought in mind, I moved my bed back into its original position (without cleaning, mind you) all so that I could take a 'Before' picture. I then continued cleaning, and when I was finished cleaning, shuffled all the furniture around in my room, which consists of a desk, a bed, and a bedside table.

I would write down an explanation of how I had everything, but I have pictures to show how everything looked and how everything now looks.

<- My room before (with my little Squee-Gee mop and a bucket of water).

I took the above photo standing in the doorway to my room.

 <- My room after (Part 1)
 <- My room after (Part 2)

I couldn't take one photo standing in the doorway to my room as I did with the before photo as the desk wouldn't have been in the shot, so I took two photos standing in the corner where the head of my bed used to be.

Please forgive the slight disarray to my room; I took the photos straight after I had moved the furniture around so that I wouldn't forget to do so.

Guys. My room is now so spacious (not really, because it's the same size but it feels a lot bigger than it used to).

Like, I am so impressed with how it feels. I walked in and out of my room multiple times for no other reason than to just bask in the newly uncovered freedom.

I had never realized how stifling the previous arrangement was until I decided to shuffle the furniture around. I feel so much more freer and relaxed. My room now has some order to it, and I feel like I have purpose again.

It's amazing how much influence a person's living space has on their psyche. And it's scary that you don't realize it until you either change it up by shuffling your furniture around, completely moving out of your previous living space into a completely new one, or completely transforming your living space into something new.

You might be wondering why I didn't shuffle around my living room space. Well, it's a little hard to do when the only pieces of furniture in the living room are two camping chairs and a bunch of miscellaneous items. Don't believe me?

Boom. My living room. Granted, the furniture will come with time, but for now, this is home.

So yeah, there's not really much to work with in the way of living room furniture. Plus, I spend more time in my bedroom than in my living room, so technically, my bedroom is my living space.

I still can't get over how spacious my room feels. I don't feel like I'm going to trip over my stuff any more, even though I had nothing under my feet.

I also decided to move my furniture around for a practical reason: winter is coming (Game of Thrones, am I right? Season 7 is just around the corner...) and with my bed being right next to the window, I would have gotten a lot colder than I would've liked. By placing my bed next to a wall, I won't get as cold during the winter months, and I expose my desk to natural light during the day, which will be a lot more easy on my eyes than an artificial light.

I'm definitely going to keep my room in this new positioning for a long time to come. It feels so much more comfortable and relaxed, and hopefully this will help me to become more comfortable and relaxed.

Based on what I've discovered today, it is apparent that the placement of furniture in a room, much like the placement of elements on a poster, has an effect on someone who is constantly exposed to it. So if you're feeling uncomfortable or uneasy, especially in your own living space, try moving the furniture around. It'll definitely help to improve your overall mood and allow for interesting developments (such as my new desire for wanting to run around my tiny yet spacious-feeling room).

And now, it's time for me to randomly get up and walk out of my, only to walk back in and bask in this new feeling of comfort and freedom.

Adios, amigos.

Vegetarian for a week

So from Monday the 20th of April to Monday the 27th of April, I went vegetarian for the week. Essentially, I may have taken it a step further by not eating any meat whatsoever during this week: no steak, no chicken, no fish, no pork.

However, I did keep the dairy products of milk (I cannot survive without my daily cup of coffee in the morning) and cheese, in order to still receive some of the proteins required to live.

I must just say, it's a lot harder than it looks to not eat any meat for a week. I found myself on Wednesday craving the taste of the Colonel's tasty chicken, and it took a great deal of self-restraint to not drive to the nearest KFC and buy myself a bucket of chicken.

I commend those who stick to the vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. So much thought has to go into what they can eat, and research also has to be done in terms of dairy and protein alternatives.

For dairy alternatives, one can look at soya milk, coconut milk, and almond milk. When considering whether I would go vegetarian or vegan, I actually tried some almond milk in preparation. While it is quite nice on it's own, it does leave a bit of a weird aftertaste in your mouth.

I wasn't prepared to subject my coffee to that kind of taste-distortion. Hence the vegetarian option.

For protein alternatives, one can look at members of the legume family: beans, chick peas, etc. Once you've done your research and found the meat and dairy alternatives, you're ready to start your new lifestyle choice of vegetarianism/veganism for the week.

Even then, it'll probably take a while to acquire a taste for all the meat and dairy alternatives, if one chooses to go the full vegan route.

I now have a greater respect and understanding for vegetarians and vegans. A lot of thought goes into meal planning and food shopping, having to check the label of everything you purchase to be sure that there are no meat or dairy ingredients in it.

I understand their reasoning for not wanting to eat meat, and I respect their life-style decisions.

Perhaps going vegetarian or vegan for a week each month isn't such a bad thing. It forces you to think creatively about how you are going to get the required nutrients into your system without any meat and dairy, and to try new things that you wouldn't normally want to try taste-wise.

Above is a photo taken of my fridge during my vegetarian week. As I only decided to cut out meats and not meat by-products, I have milk and eggs in the fridge for my protein choices. Otherwise, I have only fruit and vegetables in my fridge. Oh yeah, and there's cheese in here somewhere as well.

(Plus some carbonated drinks because, you know, I need the sugar for those sugar-induced midnight work sessions ;). Haha, nope. If I did that, I probably would have nightmares so bad, I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week.)

In any case, definitely give being vegetarian a try for a week at least. Once you've done that a couple of times, you can then level up to the more challenging vegetarian-for-longer-than-a-week-mode, before finally reaching and attempting the master level of vegan-mode.

If anything, it'll change your perspective on life and make you realize just how much we rely on different kinds of food to sustain our bodies properly.

My First Blog Post

Hello to you, readers who may have clicked on my blog either by accident or on purpose. 

My name is Sam, and welcome to my blog. As I mentioned in my description, this blog was created to help me unlock, develop and hone my creativity, and to help me explore the world around me.

I have a list of 90 different things to complete in order to help me improve my creative process, and a minimum amount of 25 must be completed by the end of the year.

Hopefully, I'll be able to complete more than 25 activities, and as a result be able to discover more about myself and who I am, as well as the world around me.

So here I go.

Here's to a year of discoveries, exploration and surprises.

Sam