working with my hands
Chris does a lot of stuff in the realm of helping people find their passions/strengths/weaknesses. He likes to talk about our unique bents – the things unique to us that make us thrive and the things that are draining. He has a host of descriptions and acronyms for this stuff. I give him a hard time about it. Despite me having a pretty good handle on the things I find energizing and the things I find draining, he has had me take tests to ‘discover’ my unique bent. One test was supposed to take weeks. In an afternoon I came back and told him I was done. My top three strengths were: being alone, exploring and creating with my hands. He said it is debatable that ‘being alone’ is a strength. I told him he only thinks that because he is an extreme extrovert.
Anyway…I don’t get to be alone much. Exploring comes in waves. And working with my hands…well, it doesn’t happen near as much as I’d like. Seasons.
We’ve been needing a bigger coffee table, so I set time aside and built one. It is not perfect. It was built with scrap wood, no plan, and plenty of imperfections.
However, I got to work with my hands.
I used boards that were once part of a bookcase in the house I grew up in.
I got to run over to my grandpa’s to plane a few boards.
My dad stopped by to help me figure out where to put my pocket screws.
My girls helped me paint it.
It will get banged up. Scratched up. Dented. Piles of stuff will be scattered on it day to day. It is just what I needed…the process of making it more than the actual table.
The little table with the yellow legs was our old coffee table…we needed bigger!
Our wood floors are in rough shape, we are getting ready to refinish them, so I wasn’t worried about paint dripping.
And….I have another white surface to reflect light and make my house brighter 🙂
