Late Night Musings: An Ode to Unfinished Projects!

It could just be because Spring is at hand, but recently I have been spending entirely too much time looking at "old projects" while trying to decide whether to just scrap them completely... or try to finish them.

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I think one of the reasons I have at least mild "hoarder-ish" tendencies is that I feel reluctant to let go of things I have sunk significant time and effort into. I could call it a "fear of feeling like I wasted my time."

But the reality of this life that we don't always end up making the wisest and best choices.

Then ugly patterns from childhood suddenly appear out of nowhere and voices inside my head whisper "You should always finish what you start" and "people will think you're a FAILURE and a FLAKE if you don't finish that!"

Of course, they aren't my voices; they are the voices of my past... of parents; of people I chose to be in relationships with when I was quite young.

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Of course, things don't get any easier when I have a financial investment in something, as well as a time and effort investment.

But sometimes we just have to let go, not only of our pet projects we'll likely never finish, but also of some of our dreams about things we intend to do "sometime in the future," but the passing of time makes it painfully obvious that "sometime in the future" has changed places with "never."

Now, if you're "on of those people" who immediately does everything you undertake from start to finish, this probably all sounds rather stupid!

For some of us, such things represent a genuine dilemma.

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If you are a somewhat regular visitor to these pages, you might recall my writing about cleaning out my "drafts" folder because so many of the half-started articles were either antiquated, or I recognized that what was a good idea a some time in the past now sounds lame.

Of course, it's not limited to writing ideas.

When I was rummaging the closet in my home office, I came across supplies for creating artistic wood cuts to use as plates for hand printed art. It was one of those things I thought I really wanted to get into... at some point.

Now it's more a case of at some point very soon this stuff is going on eBay!

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One of the "resolutions" I made at the beginning of the year was to limit the number of different things I'm actively working on to three things, and letting go of some of this old stuff will definitely be part of making it so I have fewer "distractions" around to keep me from doing what is most essential.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the remainder of your week!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2024-02-23 02:15 PST

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6 comments
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My projects often run into years before they are finished. It's only the occasional one I give up on.

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Historically, I have tended to not give up on projects... I have just postponed them more or less indefinitely!

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I'm one of those people who always finishes what they start but in some ways, I envy those who are not. How comforting to have a pile of projects to revisit when inspiration is vacationing. I can only dream of a drafts folder crammed with half-started articles or cupboards stuffed with things I wanted to get into at some point:)

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Sometimes I do wish I had a better capacity to finish what I started. But I get a little ways into things, and then I spot something else I'd like to get involved with so I start that, and from that I sidetrack into a third thing that seems interesting, and before you know it I have gone a long way from where I was originally going!

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Manually curated by ewkaw from the @qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

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I think the best advice I can give you is to do what you can do today and leave nothing for tomorrow. Doing and living is today and not tomorrow. Clean out the shelves, pull out the best and get to work. I'm sure you have a lot of good things to share. I read you and it's always interesting. Good weekend to bring us good messages.🤗

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