The Floor is my Favorite Workspace

I am my most creative and productive on the floor. For as long as I can remember, my best work

is done sitting hunched over. It started with coloring and creating posters for classes in

elementary school, sitting on the floor of the art room my parents had created in the tiny

sunroom. They would constantly ask why I would not use the easel and chair they had bought

for me, and I could never explain it. In middle school I would sit on my bedroom floor with all of

my makeup spread out sprawled across the room and I would sit up as close as I could to the

mirror and create crazy makeup looks that I would never have dared to wear outside of the

house. In high school, I would study and do homework on the floor, hoping my dad wouldn’t

come into my room and berate me for the thousandth time about how he bought me a perfectly

good desk and I was ruining my back. I would stay up late sitting on the floor of my bedroom

creating collages and paintings. During quarantine I took up upcycling clothes, I would tie dye

and cut and sew and and bedazzle and screen print designs onto any old clothes that I could

find in my house, all of which while sitting on the floor (or sitting on the grass in my backyard for

the tie dyeing). While studying abroad in Florence, Italy, I would complete my weekly painting

class assignment on the floor of the living room in my apartment. I don’t know what it is about

the floor, there is always a table or even my bed around to do these activities on. A few weeks

ago, I decided to paint a large wooden sign for my house here in Oxford. The piece of wood has

previously been painted with smiley faces and flowers in my room on my floor before my

freshman year of college. I decided to give the piece of wood a makeover, and found myself

once again, sitting on the floor and painting. I decided to look into it, and found that the internet

has evidence for why many cultures believe it has benefits but also tons of articles about how it

is horrible for back health and how sitting inhibits the mind. Whether it's a good habit or a bad

one, I can’t help it, my creativity is most present on the floor.

By: Zoe Heller

Year: Senior

Major: Strategic Communications (Arts Entrepreneurship minor)

Hometown: New Rochelle, New York

Fun fact: My favorite movie is Heathers