I want to quit quitting.

3 min read

I consider myself to be a fairly self-reflected person. However, rather embarrassingly, up until very recently I never knew what to say when asked the question: “What is your greatest weakness?”

This is not because some sense of overconfidence (so she says) but because I am ‘okay’ at most things.

I have friends who are ridiculously talented in one area and really suck at another. (But it’s okay to suck because you have the other thing to compensate with.)

I have no ‘one thing’ that I am super passionate about and extremely good at.

Instead, I have about 25 things that I am fairly passionate about and fairly good at. I like to write, to cook, to sing, to play guitar, to knit, sew and crochet, I like numbers and people and science and humanities.

But therein lies my weakness: I always have to many balls in the air and usually drop most of them sooner or later. I find it really difficult to decide what to spend my time and efforts on between all of the things that I love and then to stick with that decision. Also, I have a tendency to start a new project without having finished the previous one. I am easily excitable and easily distracted.

“Growth begins when we accept our own weaknesses.” – Jean Vanier

I think it is okay to have a broad variety of interests but I want to get better at sticking with things. I want to grow in making mature choices and being reliable.

I came across this project called ‘The 100 Day Project’. It was created by a lady called Elle Luna who is an artist and author. The concept behind the project is to pick an action that you repeat for 100 days and to document each day on Instagram.

So for example you choose to draw your left hand every day for 100 days. Every day you take a picture and post it online. All the people who might sing for 100 days or write or bake or do something completely else, post their pictures as well and together you can encourage and hold each other accountable.

When I heard about this I was immediately excited (as we have already established I am quite excitable when it comes to new projects). I love the idea of honing in on a skill and perfecting it. To commit to your own creativity, to nurture and use it for 100 days.

Elle Luna and Lindsay Jean Thomson who are hosting the project did a little video where they answered questions and explained their vision behind the project. Something Elle said really stood out to me: She called the 100 Day Project a subversive art project as it encourages to reclaim one’s minds and time. Even if it is just 10 minutes every day set apart to be creative, it is a conscious choice not to passively numb one’s mind with TV and social media but to create something, to give back to this world. This notion deeply resonates with me.

I am also nervous about this. Could this be just be another distraction? Another thing I think I want to do and then quit? Who knows. Maybe it is just what I need to break this bad habit of doing too many things at once and not completing them.

As for me, I feel that this would be less about committing to do something for 100 days but rather to commit to not do everything else for 100 days. It is saying ‘yes’ to one thing and ‘no’ to all the others.

“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” -Helen Keller

I am not entirely decided if and what I should do about this, however, this year’s ‘100 Day Project’ starts on April 4^th. Do you have a creative hobby or passion that you would like to do more of or get better at? I would love to have a partner in crime to do this adventure with! Why don’t you send me an email or comment below and maybe we can help each other in nurturing our creative passions.

If you want to find out more, go to  https://thegreatdiscontent.com/100days and you can read some more information about the project.

 

I hope you have a creative week! Stay bright and bold,

 

Britta