"Simplify, simplify."

When we made the move from our itty bitty home in Arizona to our painfully smaller-than-a-shoebox apartment in Idaho, we purged a LOT of STUFF.

One of the things I resolved to do in that purging and relocating was to give up some hobbies. I am by nature someone who likes to craft and create. I am also by nature a "dabbler" as my parents have always described me. I tell people that I try out so many new things because I *must* be phenomenal at something...I just haven't discovered what it is yet. And so I flit from craft to craft, from one art form or outlet to the next, in hopes that one of these days I will pick up paintbrush, pen or  instrument and instantly give Picasso or Faulkner or Stravinsky a run for their money.

I think the truth is that I'm impatient. And lazy. I also get a kick out of learning something new--that initial excitement that comes from finding that you are able to do or make something you didn't know you could. Sort of like those first date jitters, but without all the fear of rejection and constantly checking to see if I have lipstick on my huge front teeth...

Anyway. Back to a point--I know there's one in here somewhere...ah, yes...

When we moved, I resigned myself to the fact that no, I was not actually using all the STUFF I had "needed" to purchase to embark on every new hobby that caught my fancy. I had overtaken the entire linen closet with my hobbies, and upon close examination, realized all I was using up was space. I tried to be honest with myself, and decided there were maybe 3 creative outlets I really enjoyed: photography, sewing, and crochet. The rest of the supplies--for candle making, jewelry, oil pastels, watercolor, penciling, paper scrap booking (I still do some of this, but all digitally), stamping, origami, card making, and MORE--were sold, given away to others, or donated. I won't lie. It was pretty painful. I saw all my future masterpieces vanishing with those supplies...

However, in the last 5 months since the move, I have been so grateful to have those things out of my life, and not just for the space I've saved. I have learned that I have never been really good at anything because I never gave myself time to BE good at anything. I was so busy "courting" every different craft I could find that I never took time to develop a "relationship" with any hobby I had--I never worked enough to develop any talent. Since eliminating the excess from my world of hobbying, I have found great fulfillment and pleasure from doing the things I chose to focus on--I can sew to clothe my children and mend for my husband, I am learning to understand and construct from patterns, I can plan and sew from scratch without patterns, I have actually completed crochet projects and taught several of the girls in the dorm how to crochet, I get to spend time every day documenting my children's lives because I can find time to photograph, AND I have linens in my linen closet. :)

{Quilt block in progress...}

{Crochet blanket for Squirrel...}

Ultimately, by giving up the things on the fringe, I gained a great deal by focusing on those things that were most valuable to me. {<-------A good lesson in many circumstances, methinks.}

For some tips on how to help yourself breakup with hobbies, check out this post by the Unclutterer.