my happy corner.

A year ago, when I moved into our new home, I had all of my old bedroom furniture as it is except for 2 new additions; a living room chair that was just refurbished, and a bookshelf hung on the wall, adjacent to the chair.

My room was stained with sad memories and traumas that I wished to erase, but the new additions were brand new. They represented my new life, my rebirth if you will, and that’s why I decided to make them my haven.

I only decorated the bookshelf with things I love and things that “brought me joy,” as Marie Kondo would say. The bookshelf carried my souvenirs, my albums, my books, art I bought, art my close ones created for me, art I created representing my loved ones, my graduation photo and a beautiful bowl my friend bought me for my birthday, which I filled up with sun-dried petals and leaves from the garden I used to parent. The shelves were filled with happy memories and joy.

As for the chair, it sat in a nice corner that got just the right amount of sunlight and warmth. I decorated the surface beside it with photographs I bought from artists my age, and on the wall in front of it was an official poster I got for Bibliotheca Alexandrina, one of my favourite places to be. Even though the chair was placed in a corner of adequate seclusion, its main view was the joyous bookshelves.

This formation was all but planned, it just came to be naturally, and when I noticed it when I first arrived, I made a promise to myself. I promised myself to never taint my happy corner with unhappy memories. I promised myself to only sit there when I’m at peace, and to only approach it when I’m seeking peace. Only to cry tears of the comfort that I missed feeling so much there, and not tears of a heavy heart.

And I did.

I only spent time in my happy corner when I wanted to fill it up with positivity, and when I needed to get said positivity back. I kept recharging it and absorbing it, recharging it and absorbing it, time and time again until I only felt one feeling sitting in the chair, looking at the bookshelves; inner peace.