I’m A Pretty Good Quitter, and I’m Not Upset About It – Honestly Modern
There’s definitely a time and place for quitting. While occasionally given the stink eye as a sign of failure, quitting also makes room for something new (and maybe better). Sometimes, it’s the right time to throw in the towel and know that you gave it a good ol’ college try.
About a month ago, I decided to try a 100 Days Project. The project encourages participants to take on a creative endeavor and practice it for 100 days in a row. It’s challenging but can help a person dive a bit deeper into a creative pursuit and learn something about themselves as well as better understand their passion.
I decided to complete #100DaysofWastedArt. Here’s the Instagram post I initially shared about it.
A post shared by Jen • Honestly Modern (@honestlymodern)
I really liked it for the first week or so, but very quickly it got old. Despite being someone who easily throws things out that I don’t need, I found myself collecting trash that might make good material for a potential post. I had a pile of trash in my office. I had a small collection of items on my kitchen counter. This was so. not. me. and I hated the junk lying around my house.
Also, I found it to be more time consuming and mentally draining than I had expected. A single post might take an hour when considering the mental energy expended to dream up the idea followed by creation of the image itself. Between my job and my family, I don’t have a lot of time to create. I found that I had to replace time usually spent taking photos of my kids or writing blog posts with creation of my #100DaysofWastedArt images. I was simply replacing one creative pursuit with another and one I enjoyed less.
And I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.
I still like the idea, and I will continue to create an image here or there when I’m inspired by the waste I find in my life. For example, I used the fallen petals that covered our patio, and were on their way to the compost bin, as the inspiration and setting for a recent post about secondhand jewelry. I have a slew of refashion projects sitting next to me waiting to come to life, clothes that definitely will become “waste” if I don’t breathe new life into them.
This isn’t the first time I’ve shared about the power of quitting. Sometimes, it really is the right time to quit. In the pursuit of a minimalist lifestyle, it’s particularly important to say no to the right things (and also say yes when your heart tells you that you’ve found a gem). Saying yes is just another way to say no to something else. Saying yes to everything is generally a recipe for disaster.
So my daily #100DaysofWastedArt project is over. If you follow me on Instagram, you know you haven’t seen an image in a while. I had an idea, I gave it a shot, and I found out it was definitely not for me. It was time to quit.
What is one thing you’ve proudly quit? Tell me all about it in the comments!