Go Ahead, Start a New Project!

When I was a kid, I approached my crafting projects with fanatical dedication. Once I started something, I would not put it down until it was finished, even if that meant punting on homework (sorry about that essay, Mrs. Kiley!). I always had a vision for what I was trying to make, and I was myopically focused on it until it was done.

Now that I’m an adult with all kinds of resources, I buy a lot of crafting supplies, but I have a hard time staying focused enough to get a project done. True, I have more distractions than I had as a kid, (Work? Cleaning? Do I really need to make dinner AGAIN? Didn’t I just do all of those things yesterday?) but that’s really no excuse. I think when I was a kid, I didn’t have any idea that I could fail. Everything was new and I was doing my best. I was generally pretty happy with how things turned out, often exceeding my expectations.

As an adult, I’m entirely too fussy about outcomes. I always think things should turn out better than they do. When a project starts going south, I don’t have any patience anymore for fixing it. It’s far easier to “set it aside”, like your mother always said if you were getting frustrated with something. As a result, I have a lot of projects that have been set aside. I will start a new project with impunity. Not necessarily a great idea, but now I have endless fodder for “finish it up Fridays”!

Blog post by Jen Lopez

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