Just Make It

Written by Jonah Lisa

Us bloggy types have a tendency to collect projects the way some people collect teacups, or stamps.  We bookmark, we favorite, we clip, like and digg.  

And now, we pin.  

It’s a strange compulsion, an obsession almost, this hoarding of ideas.  And the sheer number of things we mark “for later” almost insures the fact that most of them will never be looked at again, let alone made.  It’s a great big internet out there and so the ideas just pile up, like plastic bottles in a landfill.  

The scary thing is, that landfill is my computer...and MY MIND!  And both of them are getting full!

No doubt, there are beautiful things to build and sew and repurpose, and places to go, and things to buy and look for at thrift shops, and sayings to remember and bedrooms to covet.  But are we creating stress and unrealistic expectations in our lives as we create these lists?  Are we missing the point?

I don’t know the answer.  Frankly, this brand of pop psychology has already gone way beyond my pay grade.  Interesting to think about though, isn’t it?   What are we saving all these brilliant ideas for?  What rainy day?  What chunk of time?   

I can tell you this much, since I’m probably not going to stop collecting neato ideas any time soon, I better start whittling down the lists the only other way I know how.  And Fall and Winter Unplugged Sundays are going to help me do it.

You see, this past Unplugged Sunday I tried a novel approach to dealing with the lists...

l chose a few ideas: a project for me, a craft project for the kids, a cool snack idea and a dinner recipe from my multiple, massive lists and do you know what I did?   

I MADE them!  

I know.  Out there, right?  I’d almost forgotten this was the point and not the pinning and digging and bookmarking itself.  

During the previous week I spent some of the time I might normally be surfing the net, surfing my lists instead.  Then I picked my Sunday projects and made sure I had all the materials on hand.  I printed out the recipe and some photos for the kids’ project so there was no reason to turn on the computer “just to check” anything.

I started off with a simple but fun milk and cookies snack brought to you by Pinterest.

They loved the novelty of it, as I knew they would when I first pinned it.  Then I got them started on a cool Dia de los Muertos craft project that had been bookmarked in my browser for at least a year.

And while they painted to their hearts content, I played with yarn and felt and ended up with something beautiful inspired by one of the talented artists on Etsy.

Another Pin brought us dinner, but we ate the photo op.

I’m not sure I think this will really make my all my lists shrink, but I do know it was a nice  and needed reminder of the actual purpose of pinning and saving the ideas in the first place.  

To DO them.  To MAKE them.  To VISIT, and SEE, and CREATE.  

It also made for a perfect, rainy, Unplugged Sunday and I imagine, as the weather turns colder and wetter here, I’ll be using this formula again.