False Start and the Art of Farting Around

This was a project I started about a year ago, maybe more. I get an idea and I fall in love with it, I make love to it and then I call it one day and see how it's doing and then I leave it alone forever. Maybe I'll look back at a picture and say "Oh yeah, that happened".

It's sad to abandon projects, but I do it all the time. I feel like I'm not giving my ideas enough credit when I just let them fade into the forgotten land. So I give them one chance to do well and then let it go. I've always thought that if an idea was good enough, it could stay around. Most of the time, it isn't making me money or going anywhere besides my rusty file cabinet, so what purpose does it serve?

I've come to peace with this idea that it really doesn't serve any real purpose beyond satisfying my creative urges. It can live in my file cabinet of once-had ideas. I can reference them one day if I choose, but it really doesn't matter. The point is- I made something. I took time to create rather than fart around. I chose a collage over a reality TV show, that's a pretty big deal.

If we obsess over creating masterpieces, we will never create. If we keep ourselves safe from the risk of failure, we will always putz around waiting for something interesting to happen to us. We have to make our own lives interesting. The perfect job might be waiting for you, but what are you doing now that makes that job so perfect and seamless to slip into eventually? What are you doing to ultimately become what you want to be?

That is a question I am always trying to answer. I only fail when I respond to the question with a lazy days activities. Whether they go somewhere or not, creative ideas put onto paper or video or cassette or graffiti or whatever- it's always a good idea. It's always better than just farting around.