I’ve done more nesting these past weeks – making my spaces cozier, more enjoyable, and better organized – than at any given time in history, even more than when I first moved in years ago.
But calling it nesting doesn’t seem quite right. Nesting traditionally describes something we’re free to do because we want the heightened aesthetics and feelings gained from a more comfortable, more inviting, home.
But nesting these days is something entirely different.
Like comfort food, we want to be enclosed in spaces that bring love and support, but we also need to have spaces that work harder. After all, our home is much more now. It’s our hotel, school, movie theater, gym, shop, lecture hall, and first aid station.
The changes we’re making these days come about because of increased use of spaces, less stuff rotating in and out of the house, and perhaps more people occupying one space for a longer period of time than normally occurs. We need to be able to establish our own space, and we need to create a landing spot, a neutral zone where I let go and you pick up and vice versa.
While we don’t need to cozy up the place for a party or large family gathering, we do need more room in the fridge for supplies we stock up on when options become available.
And that stack of magazines under the coffee table that’s nagged at me for months? Now that I’m staring at it for larger chunks of time, it really bothers me! How could I have let it stay like that without noticing its lack of feng shui?
What can we call what we’re doing these days as compared to when we’re feathering our nests purely because our tastes dictate it? I’ve come up with a few half-baked ideas that seem to identify the uniqueness of this nesting time:
~Covid-nesting
~Covid-lodging
~Covid-roosting
Whatever we call it — this fluffing up, rearranging, making room, or simplifying — we’re doing it because our focus is on our homes like at no other time. When the world feels alien, I want my home to support and strengthen me. Who doesn’t need that?
I’d love your suggestions for renaming nesting during this time of COVID-19, and any other ideas you’ve found for making this sequestered time more palatable.