Being In Between
As a project dwindles down to the final finishing stage there’s a sudden void. The shop is still full, still a mess, but the brain no longer has to plan. The hard work is done.
But inertia of the project and focusing on one thing pulls your mind forward, but with nothing new to concentrate on you’re left in a void filled with nothing but the sander’s dull hum lulling your mind into exploring the fascinating world around you.
And in the corner leans a solitary, discarded board.
While inconsequential at the time, there’s something about that slight lean. Maybe it’s the angle, or a shadow, or the way it was angled into the corner that made the board look like it was effortlessly floating. Whatever it was, it secures a hold in the back of your mind.
Then one day, sitting at your desk waiting for the clock to hit crest the hill and land on that magic quitting time number a bolt of inspiration lights up your mind.
Attacked by an idea for a new design you are left with no choice but to draw it. It is the exciting start of a future project springing forward motivation to get through the last coat of finish and sending your current project off so you can head to the lumber yard and turn this idea into reality.
Idea, emotion, motivation, and action all prompted by the subconscious and pulled forth by an in between moment. Who knows how long your mind has been at work on this design, days, months, or mere minutes. All it took was a moment of pause and your brain pulled forth a fully formed idea.
It’s these in between times when our tendency as busy people is to go find a task to occupy our time but that fills our heads when what we really need is a lull to see what happens. There may be nothing primed in the pump, but sometimes this is exactly what your mind needs to tell itself something new and fantastic to add to the list of future projects.