Not quite a resolution - posted at 20:03

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. Personally, I don't see why any day of the year isn't a good day to set a goal, and face it, if you make a goal on your own time you're much more likely to stick with it than you are if you feel some sort of pressure from tradition.

But as I was driving around today, it occurred to me that I've really been changing my life a lot recently, and it all falls under a theme more than a goal or resolution. It's pretty simple. Here it is:

Make more.

No, I don't mean make more money or anything. What I mean is stepping back, slowing life down, and creating more things myself instead of relying on someone else to do it. This means making more food, making more gifts, making more garments, making more things that will make life better or more beautiful.

Hasn't everyone heard that the fun is in the journey, not just the destination? Despite this, we're all so destination-focused that we completely skip the journey. We don't cook, we microwave frozen lunches. We don't take the time to make something for someone we love, we rely on someone else to put it on a store shelf. We don't make art, we buy crappy mass-produced posters. Let's spend some time on the process, on the journey.

As I said, I've been doing this a lot recently, and people apparently think I'm some sort of extreme nutcase - especially when it comes to cooking. And really, I can see their point. There is no sane reason for me to invest hours in the kitchen making something that I can buy off the shelf in five seconds. But here's the thing: even if my bread doesn't rise as high as I want, or say I let it ferment too long and it gets boozy, I will still get satisfaction and pride - and enjoyment - from the process of making it (and let's not forget that even if it's a brick it will still taste better than anything bought from a grocery store). Even if that sweater I knit is lumpy and uneven, I will have something that I can hold in my hands and proudly proclaim "hear ye, hear ye, I MADE THIS" (even if no one is listening). And if I give that loaf of bread or that sweater to someone as a gift, I have just told them that I care enough about them to spend real time on them, to embark on a journey on which they are they destination.

We have jobs where we stare at computer screens for hours at a time. We no longer can hold something in our hands at the end of the day, knowing that we have been truly productive. That's why I have shit for job satisfaction, and I know that I'm not alone in this. Going back to the roots of how things are done, doing it the hard way, and holding the product in my hand is my source of pride and this way - making and not buying tons of stuff to fill up my life - is the only way I know how to make up for our inherently unsatisfying American way of life.