Voice of Reason
I need a voice of reason in my life.
I sometimes end up creating more work than I need to because I want every little detail to be perfect. I spend a lot of time and sometimes money on things that might not really make that much of an impact on the “Big Picture”.
For instance, 2 houses ago, I retextured the entire house because I hated the orange peel that was on the walls. I hand troweled 3800 sq. ft. (a good part of that was 18′ in the air) of walls. Then I sanded and primed and painted the whole thing. I gave my elbow bursitis! After weeks of work, I had new texture and color. It looked good! But, was it worth the work? Was it a good “Bang for your Buck” project. In this case, “Bang for your Bursitis”? Was it worth the time it took away from doing other projects that definitely would make a big impact? In hind site, I can answer that with a resounding, “Nope”! My time would have been better spent on other things.
It’s not that I’m addicted to Doing Everything Myself! It’s just … I want what I want, and doing it myself is usually the only way to go about getting it.
So, here I am, trying to get past the couple “minor” things that drive me crazy and just make this house work! I’m trying hard to overlook that 6 feet of wasted wall space in my Master bathroom because the door to the closet swings in instead of out. I’m trying not to notice that pocket doors in a few choice places would abate the annoying completely useless pockets of space all over the house.
I’m trying hard to ignore my burning desire to “think about” moving doors, putting in pocket doors, ripping out the kitchen wall, replacing all the flooring, completely redoing the Master bathroom and the kitchen! Because I’m just not sure that would be the best use of my time and resources. But I have a problem with wanting everything “just so”!
I know perfection is impossible — but I still want it! Is that so wrong?
A perfectionist? Who, you?? Say it isn’t so! 🙂
But I kid because I’m the same way.
Hmm, isn’t there some sort of a Type A conference we could meet up at instead?
Oh, Sister! Slow down or just live with all the possibilities in your head for a bit. Take on something small and more urgent for the time being and pace your projects. Some of the best solutions come in time. No need to injure yourself for the sake of perfection either. Bursitis now may equal arthritis in about 20 years!
ahhh I really thought that would work. If I lived closer I would snatch up the opportunity. You could be my Mr. Miyagi, and of course I would be your karate kid, minus the karate and plus power tools (unless of course you know karate, but either way I am not hand sanding everything).
And there you have it. I think many of us will be ever chasing that balance you speak of. I like to think I’m catching up … a little bit.
Thank you for reminding me of my priorities. The reason we bought this house is so we could spend more time enjoying life and less time getting the house done so we eventually could enjoy life. Problem: 6 hours of the day I’m alone and I ENJOY working ON the house. I just have to continually remind myself to focus on the big stuff because it’s going to take 4 times longer than I expect to accomplish anything so I’ll be lucky to finish even those and enjoy them before we move again.