Friday, April 02, 2010

Promises, Promises

Snap! 

If only everything was possible just by snapping your fingers. Or wiggling your nose.

It took me the better part of 30 years to figure out my personal philosophy of life. While I'm pretty sure I've figured out what works for me, I'm also pretty sure that the rules by which I conduct myself will probably adapt over time. I've cut myself some slack, someone has to.

Here are just a few of the Stephisms that make up my personal philosophy:

1. Don't make promises you can't keep.
2. Don't make promises at all.
3. If you're considering making a promise, see rules number 1 & 2.

You see, I've been thinking lately about promising things to people. (This has nothing to do with anyone else, just with me. Don't be paranoid, any of you.)

It may seem absurd to you, but this is something I've come to realize about myself - I suck at keeping the promises I make to other people. (Except the big ones like the promise to my husband on our wedding day and ones involving the keeping of deep, dark secrets.)

It's mainly the little promises where I fail. Especially when it comes to making something for someone else. Ok, it's specifically those promises. In the past, I would get excited about doing something for someone and in that excitement, I would tell the person about it. The moment I told them it was as if the bubble burst and POP! the sparkle was gone and the project was put aside in search of other fun things to do. The same thing would happen if someone asked me to make something for them.

This is the reason why, after many years, I still have that beautiful 95% complete cross-stitch of mother goose that I intended for my niece. Why I still haven't made a blanket for my other niece to match the one I made for her sister. This is the reason why the really cool slippers I was making for a friend are sitting in my UFO box with just some simple sewing left to do. My eldest niece is the only one who has known about socks she is going to receive for Christmas and then has ACTUALLY RECEIVED THEM!

While I do try to live by this philosophy of not making promises I can't keep, I specifically try to avoid promising to make things for other people. I do, however, occasionally slip up and tell someone about a project on which I've previously been working on for them in secret.

This week, I slipped up and told my BFF, Becca, about the material I bought to make a little lunch tote for her. She's a teacher and she usually takes her lunch to school. She also, like many other teachers, I suspect, finds this point in the school year hard. You can see the end in sight, the children are getting spring fever, and you're all dreaming of summer. I figured it would be a fun little thing to help get her through the remainder of the school year.

I'm sitting here blogging, thinking about how stupid I was to tell her about the material, instead of taking the time to sew the darn thing! SEE? SEE? I'm setting myself up.

Sigh.

Now, if only the Mogrunt would snap his fingers and make that bag appear.

2 comments:

  1. I have the same challenge. As soon as I tell someone that I'm making something for them, or will finish it by time x, poof. Motivation evaporates. I beat myself up about it all the time (another means of procrastination?) but it persists anyway.

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  2. This is why I have abandoned making things for people for Christmas. You are so not alone.

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