tldr; Choose a DIY project if you have nothing better to do or you just love it. If not stay away!
We have many “hobbies” or things which we wish to get done. Our professional lives are boring! (Speak for yourself?) We seek joy in non-work things in our lives. Gardening 🪴, Building your own furniture 🪑, Building your own website 💻, Cooking 👨🍳, Cleaning 🧹, HBO 📺. . .
I did it my way …
What starts as a project to fulfill a need can quickly become an Obsession I did it my way! If it doesn’t go well then you can sing Regrets! I have had a few . . .
While it is great to DIY, we need to be ruthless in choosing what we DIY.
If every chore is a DIY, one thing leads to another and you will be forever stuck in unfinished projects.
All these unfinished projects load with you stress which kills creativity.
So, how do we choose where we spend our energy and when do we get help?
Pride, Passion or Purse?
Pride is a good driver but loses steam soon enough when things get hard.
Purse is a good motivator too, I mean save a few 100$ to fix the toilet why not? Flipside is when you mess up and pay extra to the Professional to fix your mess.
Passion keeps you going no matter how difficult the job gets. It invokes the Michael Angelo inside us to keep building or fixing until we get to a perfection.
Stress of unfinished projects
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com
Most adults with responsibilities are busy. They are constantly distracted with commitments. Even though you are highly capable of DIY but if your situation starves you off the time that is required then the whole project can go downhill.
Some people lack the motivation to go beyond a few hours to finish a project. If you keep waiting for a inspiration your house will be a museum of unfinished projects.
Here we have unfinished 2×4 table circa 2015, inspired by a Pinterest pin on How to make a table using just 2x4s
Our attention is constantly being pulled by different ropes. So the stress to focus one task is already too much. If you have too many DIYs waiting for inspiration to finish then the only good news is your projects might qualify as Modern Art!
Decompression when things are done
Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com
Once you successfully complete a DIY project, the best part is where they give you the Gold Medal and standing ovation. All in your head of course! But it is one of the sweet joys of life. The satisfaction and bragging rights keeps pumping Endorphins into your brain.
Miles to go before I weep?
In your life time you will get tons of opportunity to DIY. How to choose wisely? Who knows who cares! Pick a project, do your dance, if it is not for you lesson well learnt right?
How much time do you have and what would you rather do with your time?
If it is your passion and you derive pleasure then no matter how much you get paid for your time it is worth it to pursue it.
If you would rather watch TV or TikTok then also you can use these projects to detox and unwind.
If you are making bank at work and you hate DIY but are in it just to save a few bucks probably not good financial sense.