We spend a good amount of time in our offices so I’m a firm believer in making the space feel as much like home as possible. Granted, my dogs are not here and I don’t have my feet up (okay, I take that back because I do have a footstool under my desk), but I like to keep things around me that help me stay positive and in good spirits.
Since I’m not able to bring the boys to work, I keep them on my monitor. I also have my little beach zen garden which I picked up on the Cape several years ago, my trusty Little Prince fox to remind myself of the silliness of adults, and my stress ball lobster from a MCPA conference.
Students sometimes forget that we are real people too. We have real lives, real hobbies, real interests, real passions…you get the point. My tack boards are a combination of useful work-related things (phone numbers, short cuts for PeopleSoft, conference reminders) and then things that just make me smile. More pictures of the dogs, and my favorite note card saying “Sometimes you just need to take a nap and get over it. Maura, Age 8”. Oh, and my Dunkin mug because even though we don’t have them out here in craft coffee heaven, I still love my Dunkin.
I’m super organized, so I have a sorter for each day of the week where I keep my upcoming appointments. Again, more things that make me smile. Audrey Hepburn, the Bruins, ice cream… these things have all lead to conversations with students and help me create a comfortable environment where they want to come back to.
My book shelf, because my journals and texts from grad school have much more use here than in my apartment. I also have some of my bobble head collection and Super Grover (my spirit animal).
And lastly, this probably just looks like a wall to most of you. This piece of laminate covering the glass wall, just at my eye level, is my life saver. I have ADD and so having a constant view of people walking by in the hallway, or into our Center, was just a nightmare for me. My work production and focus went up one hundred percent when we got our lovely frosted glass.
This post is part of our #DeskDiaries series, which aims to take a fun look at the diverse sets of work spaces that student affairs professionals have at the end of the year. Whether you can’t even see your computer, or your desk finally organized, we want to discover the nature of our field one desk at a time. For more information, please see Sabina’s intro post. Be sure to check out other posts in this series.
