The Boring Middle {Day 15}

Monday morning!  The moment for new beginnings and fresh starts.  Shake off the cobwebs of late week-end evenings and let the day begin.

Personally, I'm somewhat amazed to be here at the moment.  One of my biggest hurdles to overcome is distraction and the boring middle - otherwise known as the 2-week mark!

I'm pretty sure I have ADD, I can get distracted in a heartbeat!  Unfortunately, my children are not too different!  We just had a meeting about getting work done and setting goals for our homeschool week, set the timer to work for 45 minutes and already my son called me to look at an e-mail he had received that was offering something we'd talked about at an earlier time.

So easy to log in here to write and look at stats and comments instead. (Love comments and am always so excited when there are some!  and then I get these weird-o comments from gift stores in India...)  See, so easily distracted...especially when the boring middle comes around.

There are three stages to every creative process.
     1.  Conception/planning - Yay!  New idea coming in.  Turn on adrenalin!  Buy supplies!  Let 'er rip!
     2.  The Boring Middle - Ooo, this is NOT going as planned.  This thing is way more work than I thought.  This part where I'm sewing endless little triangles together is NOT exciting, it's just boring and has to be done.
     3.  The Glorious Finish - Yay!  I did it!  It looks fabulous and I am happy with my efforts.  It was all worth it and I learned so much in the process!  Woo hoo!  (or...why did I spend so much time doing that!)

LOVE - conception/planning.  I have great ideas, they come in a rush and sometimes I can't sleep until I have thought the whole thing through.  I love gathering the supplies, purchasing new bits and tools to make this thing happen.  I love getting started.

LOATHE - boring middle.  Yet this is where character as a creative person is developed.  This is where the rubber meets the road and I bring this baby through the birth canal or abort the attempt.

Sometimes cutting your losses in the creative process is a good idea.  When the project has sucked too much time/money/effort and still appears to be going nowhere...that may be a good time to let it loose.

The boring middle is the part where I get distracted, the project gets shelved while I conceive a new idea.  This is where I have to really work and be diligent, persevere, be a good steward.

Go read the post where I found this pic...such a great post about distraction - wait, not right now, finish reading this post first!! http://www.piercedhands.com/your-screaming-kids-are-distracting-me/

I usually hit the boring middle two weeks into something.  And there I sit.  I've only just realized my pattern over the last few weeks as I've tried to get myself (once again) into some kind of routine/schedule/time management effort.{my  letter 'm' is giving me grief}.  I can do very well eating a restricted menu for, oh about, 12 days...then I start cheating...by day 14 I have given up and decided it isn't worth the effort and I say I'm done with that!

LIKE - the glorious finish.  I do enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that a finished project brings but it's always a little sad to realize that this is done now.  Yes, I enjoy my efforts, but it's always with a little sigh and I reflect back on the process.  I realize the boring middle was/was not worth the effort.  I can say I finished it, but I can't go back and get rush that the conception stage had.

Distraction is my enemy, it comes around like a bad cold, just never giving up in it's efforts to bring me down.  Like the fruit flies in my kitchen, distraction circles my head and wants me to veer away from what I am intended to do.  It keeps me from accomplishing what I need, too.

Distraction walks hand in hand with discouragement and whispers nasty thoughts into my head.  This pair always show up in The Boring Middle.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this.  Which part do like best?  What are the things that get you in the Boring Middle?

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This post is one in an ongoing series called {31 days of Uncommon Creativity}.  If you'd like to start back at the beginning you can do so by clicking here!  You can find a lot of other 31 day-ers over at Nesting Place. go check it out you may find some great stuff there that is just begging for you to read it!

*eucharisteo*

Grace * Thanksgiving * Joy

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