Letting Go Of Unfinished Projects

 

I had a lot of unfinished projects around this house when I retired and one of my goals at that time was to get those projects completed.  In the past three plus years I have managed to get a lot of those projects done.  Earlier this year I donated, to the senior center for their semiannual craft fair, an unfinished quilt project that I just could not get motivated to complete.  After realizing the reason I had not completed it was simply because I didn’t like it I bravely let it go.  Even though I had already put a lot of work into it I was ready to let someone else have the pleasure of bringing that project to completion.  It felt good.

 

This month I re-evaluated the rest of the unfinished projects I still had lingering in my sewing and craft room.  I had still had a very full box sitting in the corner of the room and I came to realize, once again, that it was full of things that I had simply lost interest in and no longer wished to make anymore.  Hanging dish towels (I’ve made tons and tons of them and I’m over it) as well as teddy bears I had cut out that even if I did make them I have no one to give them to.

 

I also had some craft project patterns and templates that I had been hanging onto with the idea that “someday” I might want to make those things.  Well, guess what?  I never made them and I know that is because I am not really interested in making them so I let those go too.  Along with those I let go of extra items that I was overstocked with or no longer wanted.

 

I let go of a pack of small acrylic canvases that I “fantasized” I might become a painter “someday”.  In all honesty, I lack that kind of talent and I’m not going to become a painter.  I can paint a wall, not a canvas.  That is where my artistic talents truly lie.

 

By the time all was said and done I had a big bag of items to take into the senior center, a small pile of other items to add to my donation box in the garage, a few items for the recycle bin, an empty banker box and a large empty plastic storage bin.  Go me!!!

 

What happened after these things left the house was the feeling that a large weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.  I am no longer reminded that I have things to do that have been patiently waiting for my attention for many, many years.  I no longer carry the burden of needing to do something productive or useful with that stuff.  These things no longer take up precious real estate in my home and I no longer need to manage that inventory.  Because I know these items will be going to a good cause I carry no guilt for not making wise use of those things that I spent my money and time on.  I am now able to create and work on other new projects that I am actually interested in doing instead.  The thought of that makes me very happy.