As a lot of creative types go, I've always struggled with 1) organization and 2) not making more work for myself.
Lately, I've been on a huge organizational binge, Marie Kondo-ing up my small apartment and workspace, and finding better ways to sort the things I'm keeping. (I've been really looking for that "kew!" feeling.) Notably, I've finally bought some file organizers and binders for important documents as well as ongoing projects and project ideas. I have notebooks full of different ideas that have been slowly making their way, as either torn-out pages or document scans and prints, into these ordered places. And my beading, painting, journaling, writing, watercoloring, and more have found their respective drawers.
But as I find myself inevitably revisiting these projects, as one does while sorting through years-old paraphernalia, I realize here's a project that seems one step from being done! Or just needed an extra coat of fixative that I didn't have until recently! It all seems so easy! Until you have thirty one-step-to-go mini series and a lot of time being dedicated to them. When do you stop giving yourself more work to do?
When I've had a fun (read: long) day, one of my oddly favorite ways to relax are finishing up one of these one-step-to-gos or cleaning up the apartment. Last night as my boyfriend dozed off with Chuck playing in the background, I had a sudden spark and added a few new layers of paint to some greeting cards I had painted earlier this week. It took probably thirty minutes--but imagine if I tried to do several of these one-step-to-gos in one night! With all these open project lying around, those one-steps would add up, and honestly overwhelm me, as projects often do for similar people.
As I revisit my odd ends of projects to determine where they go, I'm feeling a bit more sorted mentally as well. With my weeknights a bit freer lately, I'm now happy to find some time to myself to finish up these steps--without the stress of fitting them all into one day. And without this stress, at least if I find that something does require two or more steps, I know I'll be able to satisfactorily finish it. No more "well, this is good enough," but more "wow, I'm really happy with how this turned out!" If this sounds cheesy, it's just the amount we all need to feel better about ourselves and our work.