The literal translation of the verb to nest in Spanish is anidar, which is rarely used in a context different from the birds’ action to build a nest before they lay their eggs. Calling a human being’s house a “nest” in Spanish, at least in Colombia, is uncommon.

My home is my safe haven, my favorite place, my sanctuary. I don’t let everyone into my apartment. I have to know people pretty well. I believe in bad juju and many other woo things, and I’ve turned my home into a protective shield of energy that covers everything inside of it.

Marie Kondo has summed up this feeling very successfully:

“When you wear and surround yourself with the things you love, your house becomes your own personal paradise.”

I have worked very hard for my home to feel exactly like that sounds. I like pretty things, shiny things, things which serve only one purpose, and that is to make me happy.

However, I confess I’m a bit of a hoarder. Not in the extreme sense, but I’m the kind of person who will buy two of one thing just in case. “Just in case what?” I hear you ask. My irrational self will say just in case it breaks, my dog eats it, or someone falls in love with it and I decide to give it away.

Because of this reason, I do what people in the US refer to as “spring cleaning” three or four times per year. I throw away what’s broken, give away and donate what is still useful but doesn’t make me happy, anymore, and open up my space to receive more of whatever needs to come my way. I’ve always functioned like that (when I was younger my room was my safe haven, and fortunately my parents let me decorate it as I pleased), and I still love renewing the energy in my home periodically.

A few years ago I was in the middle of one of my “spring cleanings,” which we refer to in my family as “do a police,” and one of my friends came to visit. When she saw the state of my house, I told her what I was up to.

Her:    Oh. OH! ARE YOU PREGNANT?

Me:    What.

Her:    Well, you are nesting, so you must be pregnant.

Me:    Nesting?

Her:    When women get this really strong urge to organize their home, change things around and clean, it’s very possible they are doing it instinctively. It’s like your womb is telling your brain a baby is coming, so you get into this frenzied organizing and cleaning to receive the tiny, helpless human. You know? Nesting! So? Are you pregnant?

I don’t think I have ever rolled my eyes so hard in my life. What in the world is this nonsense? So, now I need to be pregnant to have a clean and organized home?

Needless to say she was banned from ever coming into my home again.

————————–

This is a picture of my actual home. My balcony has a day bed for me and Euro to read or work from in the warm afternoons, and it holds part of my garden.

*Featured image of nests by Pam Patterson on Pixabay

Isabel Firecracker is the founder and firebrand of The Uprising Spark, a platform designed to help modern, childfree women define and reach their life goals. She is a world traveler, an avid kitesurfer, and loves dogs. Pragmatic, no-nonsense life coach and host of The Honest Uproar podcast. Childfree intersectional feminist.