Beginning: Radvent journal Dec. 13

Posted on 13. Dec, 2010 by Princess Lasertron in inspiration, radvent

these seeds began because of me! (and my friend Emily who gave them to me)

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look for chances to begin. hidden new opportunities every day

a phone call, a bank envelope, driving past a new shop, doing laundry, saying hello, asking for help, saying yes, saying no, going to a movie alone, set the alarm, open a new document, offer to help, pop the cork, make a gift, write a letter

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One day last spring, I woke up early to take a shower and dress up. I had a slow day at work and decided to drive to my bank to deposit some checks. I decided to go inside instead of using the drive-thru so I could show off my outfit to all of the bank ladies. As I was filling out my deposit slip, my friend Emily who works at the bank came out to say hi to me. I told her about the garden my husband was planting and we started talking about the gardens our moms kept when we were growing up. Then she showed me the packets of seeds that the bank was handing out to children and asked me if I would like some. And I decided to say yes, then I took them home and planted them!

Beginnings are full of promise, without the judgment or pressure of doing or finishing.

There were a thousand beginnings that day last spring. A thousand doors opened that I could have chosen not to walk through–and probably several that I didn’t walk through without realizing it! When I think about it, every day is nothing but beginnings. Nobody knows what will happen today. You think you do, but isn’t it exciting to realize that you don’t?

Two days ago I didn’t know my sweet Scout was going to get sick and pass away. That was the ending of eleven years with my happy, playful, smart dog, and the beginning of being a person without a dog, which is its own new lifestyle.

So, enough philosophical rumination. Things I have been planning to begin and finish:
…A special handmade Christmas gift for my dad. (Completion date: Dec. 20)
…A book about planning weddings as parties. The more I talk about this, the more time YOU have to steal my idea, which would make me totally mad and bitter. (Completion date: May 2011)
…A class series at CAMP with experts teaching the kinds of simple techniques and projects that you always wanted to know–like bookbinding, screen printing, sewing a pillowcase, using the settings on your camera, strategies to get more blog readers. (Completion date: February 2011)
…A series of gift wrapping/packaging video tutorials (No pressure on this one for myself)
…Organizing my closet and doing a blog series about it (No pressure on that one either!)

My creative role model SARK says to say “completion dates” rather than “deadlines.” I like that–it feels like more of a celebration of finishing something than a high-pressure thing.

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Have you ever just quit something… without regret?

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I quit photography class in college–I just hated it and never looked back!

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Tags: radvent, radvent 2010