The crazy room

Organizing my folders

Solon Township, Photo by Cody Sells

Dear reader,

I have three bedrooms in my home and two of them are neutral so that when guests come they have a place to stay. I use one of the neutral rooms as my bedroom when no one is here. The third room, which I call the crazy room has all of my personal belongings, is my closet, my office, has a twin bed, my dresser, all my journals, cameras, photographs, love notes, sex toys, printer paper, printer, binders, my desk, 12 step literature, yarn, and cords to things I no longer own. It now also has multiple binders, file folders, file boxes, sticky notes, jars with markers and everything I need for grad school.

I call it the crazy room because even when I clean and organize it it becomes a pile of clothes, indecipherable stacks of paper, clumps of baseball caps, and crates of supplements I tried to cure my insanity with that didn’t work. Beef liver seemed promising but didn’t quite do the trick in the same way praying did.

The crazy room is my research portal, my creative sanctuary, the office of my mind and the office of my practice. I sit on my ergonomic chair and host Landscapes or dream up new classes and offerings. As June’s spine is healing she likes to nap on the twin bed because it is low to the ground and doesn’t strain her back to hop up. I let this room be messy, I let it be functional, I let it be the place where my walking pad and my bio mat collect dust in the corner in the summer time because the sun gives me heat and the trails give me a walking space.

I am in the process of creating systems for the room to fold in with my school work in a more streamlined way. I decided to print out all my readings because I wanted to read at the beach, at the picnic table, at the coffee shop, and in the meadow without the screen in front of me. The readings don’t delicately fit into one binder and so I have folders for my current readings, and then a filing system for the readings that I am done with.

Want to see all my physical materials I use like file folders, pens, notebooks, and more? Check out the free guide I made NOTE TAKING TOOLS + NOTE TAKING POSSIBILITIES

I do my best to unbutton my shirt and put it back on the hanger but in my swift motion to get from one event to the next I throw it on the floor. The same pile I threw my sweatpants on in the night when I got too hot. The same pile my gratitude list notebook is on and my Oura ring charger and my socks. The piles make their homes and I start to get frustrated because then I can’t find the piles of paper for my readings.

The filing system is promising as I stare at it from the dining room table through the half open door of the crazy room. The white noise machine is on while I listen to the sounds of two of my cherished ones.

I both love to have systems and despise them. I judge myself for not being consistent. The thing about this body I am in though is it is inconsistent. Ovulating, bleeding, pain, no pain, migraines, being tired, being sore, being bored, being cranky, being sad, being joyful, stretching, getting stronger, getting weaker, all in an endless cycle with no announcements and little predictability.

I trust that I can apply this unknown timeline to my work, to school, to my systems of learning. I tend to this haphazard expanse with the mind of an organized saint. My Virgo Rising and Capricorn Moon wrap seamlessly around five planets in Gemini to create a pathway to art making.

I’m texting back with less urgency in an effort to be more in my work and in my life and with my neighbors and with my fellows. I look at my phone less with this vibrant life. The fuller it is the more the crazy room is littered with sand from every pant leg half unrolled. I see what is right in front of me. But when the stress of the crazy room creeps in I want to grab my device and tune out. It hits some sort of thing that small Cody wants to rebel and say I don’t need to keep this room clean! As if there is a power in denying myself my own sanity.

So today I slowly label my little folders. I pick the clothes up one at a time. I put the hats back in their baskets. I thank the crazy room for holding all of my objects, my diaries, my most precious and revered thoughts and ideas. Sticky notes of things that never manifested, love spells unmet.

I stay committed to the process of creation, to work, to invention, to possibility. I do this without streamlined systems or perfectly alphabetized archives. I do this with a wild mind and a slow body. I do this my way, and my way is perfect for me.

ECHOES OF SELF

LIVE ON ZOOM SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8 : 9am-12pm PST / 12pm-3pm EST

Join me this upcoming Sunday for a class all about systems and practices for organizing your own notes and research. Maybe you have a room or an office or a studio you want to tidy up and organize. Maybe you want to learn more about Notion, Google Drive, and creating a digital garden for your business ecosystem.

The possibilities are endless and together we will shape this class into what we all need and desire. Class is $175 and there are two part payment plans, closed captions, and class is recorded for those who cannot make it live.

You have my cheerleading, my attention, and my unwavering support in these three hours and beyond.

Class is part slideshow, part sharing, part writing prompts, part magic. We are going to have a lot of fun and visualize together not only how to arrange our research modalities but also how to synthesize it for public sharing.

PLUS class includes TWO co-working days where we will talk more and then spend some time putting our new skills to use. Respond to this email if you have any questions!

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info@codycookparrott.com

PO Box 252 Cedar, MI 49621

Landscapes : A writing group for all genres (Members get 10% off of Echoes of Self and the recording of the workshop with

Nic Antoinette

is now available)