Prompt: Describe a place where you feel calm.
My workshop is probably that place.
Every time Hannah walks into that place, she says it’s my mind on display. It’s where I go and where I can be free, where all my ideas can find some sort of place to exist.
Not everything comes to fruition, of course, but there’s a space for everything in there. My mind is free to roam, my hands are free to work and tinker, and I always feel really good after I’ve been there.
There have been times when Hannah has told me, “You need to go to the shop.” So I go to the shop, and I come back feeling better.
Back in November, I think it was, one of my neighbours complained about dust on the items in his unit and claimed it was coming from me. It turned into a whole big thing, and I had to sort it out with management. They made me cover the unit.
That really shook me.
It happened at a very inconvenient time — I think Hannah was due that Saturday, and all of this was happening the week before. I was running around trying to find tarp, dealing with management, going to work. It really shook me because the place where I once felt calm was now a place I felt trepidatious in.
The freedom I had to just explore, to cut wood and sand and be expressive with the tools and materials I enjoy working with — all of a sudden, I felt restricted. Like I was going to get caught for something.
And so the calm I felt there is something I’m still trying to get back.
Of course, I can’t go back very often right now because of my hand. But when I start going back, I want to have that peace there again.
I’m hoping I’ve done enough. I’m hoping I’m well within my rights to do what I’m doing there. And I’m hoping I can hold onto that and work peacefully and calmly and freely again.
So I guess my workshop is where I find calm.
I still do.
It’s just that I need the clouds to be blown away.
Lightly edited with AI for clarity and readability while preserving the original spoken reflection.
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