On building things and finding friends
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After a comment the other day with someone who is quite like me, I realised I love to be building something. The comment she made was 'I like to be building something'. Ok so I totally copied the phrase (just gave it a bit more oomph) but basically I knew from my teens that I didn't like routine or repetitive work (thanks, Careers test) although I think now, I DO like it if it helps me develop or learn a skill or skills I didn't have before. But once I have mastered the skill (and my version of 'mastered' isn't as much as 'mastery') that's it, I'm done.
This comes across as lack of commitment sometimes. It's not. It's my scanner tendencies - my instinctive enthusiasm for something which runs a long way before it's done, but shorter than a lot of people's run. I'm not a deep sea diver when it comes to interests. I have lots. I really get into reading about life in the 18th century, or knitting or learning all the consituencies in London, but these are topics which will come and go suddenly. I love different environments. I love dancing, but wouldn't want to it every day. In short I am a careers adviser's nightmare (I don't intend to use them ever again. Too damn limiting.)
Anyway, where was I? I do like to build things. But it has to be something I believe in. I'm not going to use the word sustainable, because it's not right for what I'm describing. What I would say is: practical yet beautiful, that emits happiness and is to do good. Yes, that covers a lot of things.
The other crucial thing is that I want to do this with other people. A community. That can be a random group of strangers and it can be your bestest buddies. They have just got to get it. They'll become friends after a while. After you've started practicing a lifestyle of doing what you love, practicing simple living, or another focus which is more you than you've ever been before, you will find that there are people who get it and people who don't. People who are walking that path or people who are scared of doing what they actually want. The people who get it should become people who help you, and you may be able to help them. Either way, building something within a community, is what it's all about.
