First of all, for those of you who clicked the link in the newsletter yesterday, thank you for allowing me that little bit of bliss. I think there is more room for such frivolity. I get bored pretty easily.
In fact, I get tired of an ideas and give up on them much too easily. I’ve been bored with writing a few times since thing blog happened. At the same time, I’ve made a commitment to both y’all and myself that this newsletter goes out daily.
Making a book and sending out newsletters are pretty ephemeral things. That’s cool. And? I love concrete things. Physical evidence that I’ve done something matters to me.
With this in mind, I’m starting a little side project. My intention is to keep going with it as long as it amuses me and others.
I’m cutting wood everyday and stacking it. Pretty simple eh? Everyone I work will either online or in person will be invited to add to the stack. Over time, I’ll have a physical representation of what can be accomplished by showing up one day at a time.
If you think that this sounds like fun, you can follow along on instagram. I’m @check_out_my_wood
Here you’ll find some of my carving work, images of trees, woodpiles, the ongoing wood stacking project and lots of stiff humour. If you’re board, you might be interested.
Pining for something new? Yew might find it there.
So, is this ‘side project’ a distraction? Or, is it an addition that takes very little time?
How do you keep going with ideas, or promises when you find that you’re running out of ideas?
Can a distraction or divergence feed your creative process?
Tell me about it.
A balanced life is composed of side projects. Unfortunately, our jobs can become our focus, even to family and, as I saw during COVID, our very physical integrity. Ask me about going all in and managing to dislocate two ribs by working at a desk in my home for days on end. We need a variety of activities to be at our best and that includes the mentally creative and physically creative as well as the routine and yes, even mundane activities. We need them all. The physical ones bring satisfaction and the mental ones give entertainment. A mentally creative act that becomes physical, that materializes, is a thing of wonder. Even if it is normal as painting a house, sewing a Halloween costume or creating a new recipe. An idea bloomed into reality. That joy? That is what I imagine God feels like all the time.