Do you have an unfinished novel hidden away in some obscure folder? Or a business idea that you once sketched on some scrap of paper during a particularly long call? How is your newest arts & crafts passion going – are you still interested in woodworking?
If any of these questions made you flinch, there is no need to feel ashamed. I am the master of starting projects that eventually fade away, pushed into the mists of time by everyday chores, changing interests, or sheer lack of time.
Reflecting on several unfinished novels, a YouTube channel, and multiple iterations of this blog, I am beyond blaming anyone for their lack of stick-to-it-ness. Yet, the dynamic of generating productive and fulfilling activities only to abandon them piques my interest.
When speaking to friends and colleagues, one quickly unearths that this is a common phenomenon, even among people who are otherwise very disciplined in their private and professional lives.
Our minds excel at generating new ventures, and these days most tools to give them a speculative shot have been democratized. And so, we do.
But asking an honest question here: Do these abandoned houses of fancy make us happier? Is there any remaining value in their shadowy existence?
Why not hit the delete button? That detective novel you were writing did not have a reveal anyway. Even you did not know who did it. It certainly was not the gardener.
No. I would not advise simply killing off these projects, as liberating as this might seem. What I would advise you to do is to send them off in style.
Take your dusty passion projects and give them a warm but stern appraisal. Raise a toast to them as if you were recalling the adventures and exploits of a good friend.
Tell their story in all the details, from the initial shower-thought to the sketch of the business plan of your popup-store or the early chapters of your novel. Tell yourself how it ended and try to find out why. Did the story ever end?
In the best of cases, you will feel the spark again, rekindling your passion for the project. If so, note down three steps you are willing and able to take in the next month to turn it into a reality. Be kind to yourself and do not overreach. You are in for the long run this time, right?
In any case, you will have appreciated your project idea fully and enabled yourself to say farewell for the time being. You will not be burdened by projects that could have been, focusing on those projects that grab your attention at this specific time in your life.
And since most of us carry a bit of our gatherer past with us, you do not have to delete all abandoned ideas. Toasting them could bring you to appreciate them as they are – unfinished, yet ruggedly complete.
Personally speaking, I have one first page of a novel that I will probably never delete. I will also probably never write the rest of the novel. And that is fine by me.
It stands as it is, capturing a mood, an emotion, a state of being I once experienced. And can keep experiencing because it exists. A short story in and of itself.
Nothing will ever stop me from appreciating that one page and its warm glow. Just as nothing will stop me from realizing all the other ideas that got relit by the spark. Both are lights shining the way in their own kind.
And the rest, all the Stories Untold, those we have celebrated accordingly and can allow them some time away from our lives. Should they continue to prosper in the calming dark far away from our daily hustle, they will find their way back to us in their own time.