Scrolling through Twitter just now, saw a tweet from someone saying that their life was 'full of little pieces of done'. And I thought wow. That's my entire life!
You can't weave (or do anything with lots of steps, with a high level of complexity) without becoming accepting of how long it takes to get to done, done, and begin to celebrate the 'done-ness' of the individual steps along the way.
So I tick off when I beam a warp. Done!
Thread the warp. Done!
Sley and tie on (usually done in one go). Done!
Weave for a session (one towel, one scarf, one 45 minute session, whatever) Done!
Wet finish. (washer/dryer) Done!
Press. Done!
Tag and price. Done!
These levels of done get 'done' over the course of days, sometimes weeks. So I live in a constant state of little pieces of 'done' so that by the time I'm done, done, I'm already working on the next project.
Same with writing. Same with teaching.
Same with life, really.
Ads tell us that if we have thing X our life will be complete. Society tells us we need to do Y for our lives to be complete.
No. Life is a series of little pieces of done. We are done, done when we die. Until then, keep doing the little pieces. Can't weave for 4 hours a day? Do one. Can't write a book in the month of November? Do a chapter. Or a page.
Measure progress not by being done, done, but what you have accomplished, even if it is only a step or two. Celebrate the little bits of done-ness.
As I get older, success is measured by a much different scale from when I was 30. And that is entirely ok. It is 'enough'. I look back with some admiration for what I used to be able to do. I long for the days when that WAS my 'normal'. But I'm no longer 30, and it's ok to not get to that level of done-ness in a day. The point is, I am still here. I am still doing things, making things. Hopefully I will be able to keep teaching for a while longer.
And when I am done, done, I hope I will have left something worthwhile behind. And if not, oh well. I tried.
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1 comment:
I think that is what I love best about weaving and spinning--the many many small steps that are needed to actually complete a project. That is isn't "one and done" but more of a process to lose oneself in.
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