As much as I love fires in the fireplace, I think I’m ready for winter to be over. I don’t want to be in my office, with its cold blue walls, down in the cold basement.

Instead of standing on my anti-fatigue mat at my perfect height desk, or sitting in my perfectly adjusted desk chair, with all of my arm and shoulder and hip bends at exactly the right angles, I’ve been cross-legged on the couch, on the love seat, in the armchair by the window, where the room is warm and welcoming. I’ve been at the kitchen table. I took my laptop stand, portable keyboard, and portable trackpad into our son’s room, plugged in a lamp, and sat at his desk all last week, in the exact version of the chair I have down in my office, except that his desk is a different height and isn’t adjustable. But his room is cozy, and I’d rather be there than in my office.

At the end of last week, I had to lie down at lunch because I had a visual migraine. I’ve had these on occasion in the past, usually pain-free, mostly when I was going through menopause, but I hadn’t gotten one in a while. And this one came with pain. As did the one I got the next day, and the next, and the next. My husband rubbed my head for me one night to help relieve the pain, and as he worked his way up from my shoulders to my neck to my temples, I realized how much tension I had deep beneath my left shoulder blade (from reading or typing on the couch) and up the sides and back of my neck (from scrunching my shoulders at my son’s desk).

Reluctantly, I went back down to my office yesterday. I lit a candle and turned on the space heater, but that’s not enough to transform it to a snug space. The heat is stuffy and localized, and I’m over my office’s current vibe: it’s too electric and colorful. I want to tone it down. I’m going to have to repaint and redecorate to make it a place I want to be. Warmth and fresh air would be nice, too.