It is interesting to me to sit back and look at the ways 2020 and the Pandemic change us going forward. I have friends who, although not quite at the level of "doomsday prepper", probably have more essentials stockpiled than they did in 2019. We all know people who operate their lives more simply than in the past. We all know people who have better cooking and gardening skills than they did pre-pandemic. I have even heard friends say they believe some industries. like restaurants, are pricing themselves out of the economic landscape, even though what they are doing is what they must to survive.
The thing I can't help thinking about today however is passion, personal passion. In the last several weeks several people have talked to me about how lucky I am to have woodworking as something to do. Although I could argue it is the age group of those around me, I really think it is more about the last year. Regardless, more and more acquaintances are talking about life balance in a new way. A conversation about life balance used to be about the number of hours you worked versus the number of hours you were away from work. In the last year, there has been more understanding about the quality of those hours than ever before. When you are sitting in front of Netflix or Hulu and there is nothing on you have not seen, or even interesting looking, you start to ask questions about quality of time. We were all home A LOT last year, but was the time we had of the quality we hoped for? I sincerely hope you can answer that question positively, but I think for a lot of us there was a gap. This is the gap people are thinking about right now.
I have been surprised at how many people my age or younger have told me recently they have no hobbies, or nothing they do just for fun. I've been as much of a work-a-holic as the next person, climbing the corporate ladder to make things better for my family. But I was lucky. In my freshman year in high school, I got hooked on woodworking. The part of our high school where wood shop, metal shop, agriculture, and drafting took place may have been on the face of Mars. It was clear at the end of the school , completely away from the more "academic" endeavors. But I will tell you, the things I learned in that shop from Russ Bennett and Bill Reese have helped me keep my sanity. During times of the most stress in my life, I found myself moving back toward the shop and woodworking.
So, you have read this and it has struck a chord in your soul, but you are not ready to lay out tens of thousands of dollars for shop equipment.
Maybe I could suggest something else. Here is a list of the Top 10 Do-It-yourself skills. (taken from this article: https://lifehacker.com/top-10-essential-diy-skills-that-arent-as-hard-as-you-t-5896102)
1. Emergency Preparedness
2. Jailbreaking/Rooting Your Phone
3. Building a Computer from Scratch
4. Photo Editing
5. Cooking
6. Home Repair
7. Auto Maintenance
8. Sewing
9. Working with Electronics
10. Coding
You may have added some of these skills/hobbies to your repertoire in 2020. If not, this may be a list to consider as something you for the future. A couple of years ago (maybe more) I was talking to my daughter about a list like this, and I told her it seemed odd in a family of such accomplished seamstresses, I could not sew. That year for Christmas, she gave me the fabric to make a quilt, and taught me to sew. I now have a quilt I made myself (with help from others) and I am not afraid of sewing anymore.
We all have stresses in our regular work world. For me, stepping into my woodworking world causes the stress to lift like a morning fog. It brings me such freedom. And sometimes, I come up with things other people like to add to their lives. If you are interested, pop over to my Etsy store and take a look.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ToyboxWoodworking
I hope you are having a great summer. The Iowa State Fair is coming up, which signals the end of summer in Iowa, so enjoy what is left and think a little bit about what brings you joy and freedom.
