Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wonder Why Wednesday - Running Up That Hill

I need to show you this:


Click it, I command you!

My mom made that. She knitted it, with her own two hands, WITH FRIGHTENINGLY SMALL BEADS, in under a year which would never happen in my house. She even blocked it (thus the foam board and pins), proof that she is the least lazy person I know. (I specifically look for projects that don't require this extra step. I know this shocks you.)

She didn't even frog it when the yarn proved to be slightly faulty...she just dyed it when she was done.

I came by my craft crazy honestly.

Today's Wonder...

What makes some projects and accomplishments so irresistible that we keep plugging away at them even when sense seems to dictate we stop?

There are the obvious ones, of course, like parenthood - if you're a parent (well, a good parent), you have to keep going even if you're tired and broke and upset about it all and wish you could be an unfettered, independently wealthy woman with a boat and a mountain cabin.

But what about the ones where nobody would lose anything by you quitting, like climbing a mountain, or running a marathon, finishing a killer shawl with unintentional stripes or making yourself write something interesting in a blog each day that only a few people read besides yourself?

Is it the challenge, or is it the sense of accomplishment when the task is complete?

The satisfaction of completion is the natural end to a tough-but-finished project or task, but I think it really, truly is just the challenge of the thing driving us more often than one might think... billionaire playboys do things for satisfaction, but you and I do them because it gets us out of our heads for 5, 10, 20 minutes a day.

That's worth the struggle.

8 comments:

Dandy said...

I cannot even imagine doing a project like that.

I have 1001 cranes to fold for my wedding and can't even motivate to do that project.

Would you like to fold some cranes?

curegirl0421 said...

I would be happy to fold some cranes. Give me specs and The Child (a huge origami fan) and I will get crackin'.

I'm totally not kidding! :)

Ruth Covington said...

I love getting out of my head "for 5, 10, 20 minutes a day." Now if I could just find a way to get out of this body and into one that's 20 years younger and 20 pounds lighter! You figure out how to do that, let me know!

Julie said...

Thanks for the link and the applause - it only took me 3 months...call me obsessive, just don't call me late...never mind.

Dandy said...

You are gonna die when I tell you how small they are... 2" gold foil squares.

I'm doing a blog post about them in the next couple days. Its a Japanese tradition. I'm going to have a crane folding party... can you come?!

Elle Bee said...

That is amazing! Your mom doesn't have an impatient bone in her body does she. I liked this line "because it gets us out of our heads for 5, 10, 20 minutes a day" because it's so very true. When I'm scrapbooking or blogging or cooking, I'm in my own little world. I like my little world!
:o)
Elle

WhiteStone said...

That is stunningly lovely! Gorgeous! Fantastic! I think we enjoy crafts because we enjoy being creative...creating, if you please. Even if the pattern is someone else's, we love the creating. I like your thought of "gets us out of our heads", because it does that, too.

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