One of my major problems with patience is patience with my self. I have improved over the years and sometimes I feel I have swung too far the other way. I'm too patient with myself. I don't push myself enough, I don't challenge myself enough, I don't expect enough of myself.
Where is the balance? That is a good question. I get excited about new projects and in a whirl wind get a fair amount done. But then I lose interest and additional projects are not done or left half finished. Writing projects, photo projects, jewelry projects, house cleaning, home improvement. All things I would like to get accomplished but often times (especially the last two) I just don't feel like doing. I try to give myself deadlines. That doesn't seem to work. I try to put a time limit like one hour. That works only part of the time. Sometimes if I am overwhelmed by a project, I try to break it down into parts. It helps, but getting the whole project done takes a long time and usually still doesn't get finished.
I am kind to myself. "Gail, you got the dishwasher loaded today. Good for you. You can do the rest of the kitchen tomorrow." "Wow, you got all the laundry done today. Marvelous. Now you can veg out with NetFlicks." While I think this is a good thing, many things that need to get done never do get done. And one might say so what. But then I have to live in a dirty house and a cluttered house with all the undone projects and I'm not happy with that. I guess the good news is I chastise myself less for not accomplishing things I need to do. The bad news I don't do them.
Two things come into play. One is living alone, I don't have to do anything I don't want to, such as clean. The other is that working part time and having a lot more time, I waste it. "I have 3 days off. I can get a lot done, but I have a lot of time to do it so how about tomorrow." Maybe next year's word will be procrastination. Another good P word.
It is perhaps odd, that the year I choose to focus on patience, I start a jewelry hobby. As stated in a previous blog, it does require quite a bit a patience. But what I have also discovered is that patience is sometimes just finding the right way to do something. I am trying to do earrings. But the little metal piece that I am putting them on doesn't seem to want to cooperate and is difficult to twist. After doing a little internet investigation it turns out there are several sizes and are used for different things. I need some that bend more easily. Now I just have to find them. Possibly what I have learned from this is that educating myself instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every time, might help my patience level. What a concept.
I recently found a wonderful idea for mounting photographs on Pinterest. Pinterest is like Facebook in someways. It is fun to look at but I get very frustrated and impatient trying to figure it out. Much too complicated. I'm not sure how I even found this "pin" and actually got it saved to my "pins." But the the creativity and imagination on the site is amazing.
I realize this post is a little scattered. But I'm not into perfection as I stated in yet another post. Good enough is alright. So I want to tell you about crafting and the perfect glue for those of us who are impatient. Superglue. Almost no waiting. And it works super well. The problem is getting it on your fingers. And then off your fingers. As it turns out it is possible. I researched it on the internet. Several ways in fact. The problem is they all require patience so I'm typing with superglue on my finger tips. At least they aren't glued together.
Adding recent photos. And a completed project.
I want too sketch your acorn tops photo. If I do, I will show it to you.
ReplyDeleteKeep doing what you are doing . You have strategies you have collected over time. Just keep noting which ones work best where.