Back in February, I decided to make the Princess and the Pea diorama my big project for 2025. However, since finishing the nightgown in April, I have done absolutely nothing on this project. While I have done plenty of other things (from spinning yarn to attending conferences), the only step I’ve taken towards finishing this project is collect really big boxes for the tower I need to make.
Why I haven’t been working on this? I have lots of reasons, and but there’s really only one thing holding me back. Most of this massive project includes things I have never done before. Tackling the unknown means potential failure. Things rarely work the first time — it took me nine in the case of the nightgown! It’s not surprising that I am reluctant to work on this.
What I need to remember is how much fun I find the exploratory experimentation that goes with this process. I took a six-month break between the first and second attempt at the nightgown, reluctant to keep going when I realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy as I had imagined. But when I actually returned to it, I got obsessed. I kept tweaking things even after I finally got a pattern that worked because I was so excited by the results I was getting.
Many of the quotes I’ve posted lately have been reminders to myself that I need to keep showing up. I have to keep trying. I have to keep starting over again, or I will never ever finish.
But I’ve realized the reminder I really need: that you have to dive in even though you don’t know if it’s going to work. You have to put in the time and effort without being guaranteed a successful project. Or, as Leonard Cohen puts it:
The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.
Time to get cutting.
Does the fear of failure hold you back?
I’m going through a similar thing with a blouse I’m sewing and the collar part isn’t working out so well. I had to try it several times and I think now it will work. But it’s frustrating and it’s easier to forget about it than to pick it up and try again.
I’ve realized that the reason I stop working on a project is rarely boredom. More often, I’ve hit a snag like you describe and I haven’t got the steam to deal with the difficult thing. It can be really hard to find the determination to keep going when things get really hard. Especially on a project you’re doing for fun! I hope your blouse turns out. I’ve also been trying to sew clothes, but so far nothing is completed… you can guess why. 😉