Renovation, mini-vacation

[balganwall]

Part of my problem with projects is that I feel guilty for taking a break from them. I'm always worried that I'm going to get used to not drawing or not writing, and then I'll lapse into not doing anything. It happened a lot when I was younger, and now that I'm older and very well aware of my mortality, I'm eager to keep working.

Unfortunately, that leads to burnout. Burnout leads to reluctance. Reluctance leads to hate.

I was heading into reluctance when I got the idea to renovate part of the bedroom, where I do all my work. Renovate might be the wrong word; it's more like "buying new furniture and rearranging current furniture." I got excited. I was drawing up plans to build a new bedside desk, taking measurements of all those cramped spaces, figuring out how long it would take to buy everything I needed...

And then I found out that I couldn't accomplish everything I wanted. Some spaces were too cramped to fit furniture. Building the items I wanted would take too long and probably cost more than buying something already made.

Three days spent obsessing over all of this. I was so disappointed in myself. I could have been working on projects all that time.

But when I returned to my projects, I found that I was happy to work on them again. The three wasted days were really a mini-vacation that I needed to recharge my batteries.

In fact, I came up with a new idea of working on my main project: instead of doing everything on the iPad and Mac, sketch and ink on paper, then scan everything for coloring. I enjoy working on paper more than on a screen for several hours at a stretch.

I need to take more mini-vacations.

Comments

[underused]

Ah, that's great. I immediately thought of that old saying, "a change is as good as a rest." It's totally true.

Although I'm sorry to hear about the disappointments. It's so frustrating when you get all excited about something and realise it won't work.

Here (we're out the country) when I get tired of writing (or not writing, as the case may be, erg) I can go outside and do something totally unrelated for hours--or days. Then all of a sudden, sitting inside and working in front of a screen feels like luxury and I'm happy to do it!.

[balganwall]

I thought I was on a roll with all my ideas. Part of the problem was that I have a hard time imagining measurements in real life. I'm okay with feet and meters, but when it comes to inches, or any smaller increment, that's when my brain wants to collapse in on itself. I'd thought that a 20-inch wide chair could fit in the space between my side of the bed and the couch, but when I got out a step stool of the same width to test it out, I was disappointed to find that I was way off.

You're lucky to live out in the country. To some people, it may seem like a vast plane of nothingness, but a more observant eye sees another world and countless stories. I'm kind of in a rural area. It's close enough to civilization... but it's along the highway, which gets bloated during tourist season. I need a forested area with lots of animals. >:/

[underused]

Haha, I do stuff like that ALL THE TIME. Not too long ago I decided this dresser we had upstairs would be perfect by the front door. I "measured" it by walking my outstretched hand across the space and dresser--bc that's sufficient, right? And I was alone but impatient, so I decided to bring it down the stairs by laying it flat and sliding it down--bc that's safe, right? When it got it in place the dresser was almost two inches too long (didn't account for baseboards and moldings). It is still there, slightly overlapping the adjacent door frame and reminding me I have to measure things.

We are lucky. We're on a rural highway, so there's way more traffic than I anticipated, but it's beautiful. Lots of bunnies. Shall I send you one?

[balganwall]

Thank you for the bunny offer, but I have two rascals in the backyard already. One of them likes to dig in my garden crate. :\