Doing Something.

Image of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' sculpture of Diana in the Great Stair Hall Balcony at the PMA, taken at night with my iPhone.Earlier this week I met one of my lovely friends for lunch at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she works. Besides the usual work, I hesitate to admit that I haven't been getting out much these days, so it was a great opportunity to catch up with her, get some fresh air, and get inspired on one of my days off.

In a place like the PMA it's easy to feel small and insignificant standing in front of art and objects created by masters of their form. But I always like to think that behind every great piece there were 20 horrible pieces, full of mistakes and flaws and maybe even spit. I feel like we live in a world now that doesn't like to exhibit the messy processes behind great work (and I'm not just talking art--it can apply to ANY work). Take for example the iPhone. I would love to see how many design sketches they went through before one was deemed "FINAL." I'd like to know if at any point any of them thought that they were wasting their time. That's such an internal/external battle of the critics, I think. As much as I'm a perfectionist at heart, I like seeing and generating process. It reminds me that we're not robots, that we need to make mistakes along the way and adjust to make things better. This probably isn't the first time I've said this here, and it probably won't be the last.

To bring it down to a home level a little bit, the first batch of chocolate chip cookies I ever made when I was a teenager were ridiculously bad. My mom was there trying to guard me from making mistakes, but they still turned out less than stellar. Baking and cooking disasters are a prime leveler. Now (not to brag), but I make a pretty kickin' badass chocolate chip cookie. Just sayin'.

Nothing is ever a waste of time. (Okay, I'm sure some things are some times, but if you learn from them they're not.)

I came across this Neil Gaiman quote this week that seems to put it all in perspective:

I hope that this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.