There Are Things In Your World That Should Never Be Finished
It’s not ever surprising for me to watch anxiety grow in people because of something that must be finished. We participate in a world of extreme measurement, micro-management, to-do lists, deadlines, time sheets all with the express outcome of getting the most from whatever it is we’re doing. And getting the most, being able to sign off the final value on a particular task, requires us to close it off and complete whatever it is we started. Without a finished product, a measurement can not be taken, a value cannot be placed, and an invoice cannot be issued and paid. Without completion we cannot eat.
And yet there are many important things in life that are best left unfinished. To complete these things is to do damage. It was a quote by Picasso that had me thinking on these things recently….
Certainly there are many activities we must finish, and finish well. On time, and as promised, but there are others that were never meant to be completed. Knowing which are which, and adjusting your expectations and actions accordingly is the tricky part.
Examples of Things Best not Finished
When something is finished you no longer pay attention to it. Finished items get put aside, and placed into the ‘finished tray’. Finished paintings get hung up on a wall, finished lego creations get broken down and put back into a box, finished stories get bound and stored in a book shelf, finished meals get eaten. But when something you’re working on is an unfinished masterpiece (as the art world might say), you will continue to work on it, nurture it, nourish it, tweak it, improve it, reflect on it, celebrate it, fight for it, grow it, cuddle it, hug it, hold it, defend it, protect it, be patient with it, let it speak to you, speak to it, and the list of requirements to create a masterpiece goes on and on and on.
Perhaps there are some things that we currently think should be finished, that are better left unfinished? Here’s my unfinished list of things I think are best left unfinished:
Your life should never be finished. Your life will end when it ends, but you should live it as an unfinished work. Lives are not only finished at the point of death by the way. I have sadly seen finished lives still walking amongst us.
Marriages and Relationships you want to last, should never be finished. Marriages and relationships are similar to lives. When you think you’ve finished your marriage or a relationship, then you have. It is over, and it is best, in my opinion, not to be in it anymore.
‘Growing Up’ is definitely best left unfinished. I’m a strong advocate and believer of Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and all the Avengers and their friends. We should never be fooled into believing that any of them are untrue or not real. We should hold on tightly to our belief in them, plus fairies, angels, pixies and gnomes who come alive at night in your garden. There are too many people out there who spend way too much time trying to convince other people that their beliefs are unscientific, unprovable, childlike and therefore not true. To those people I say, “stop pretending to have finished growing up, settle down, and unfinish your masterpiece a little.”
There some Stories that should never ever end. They should keep being tweaked and bent and twisted to add more stuff into them. The World’s Fastest Indian has been a recent story (in movie form) I wish had never ended. They could have kept telling that story to me for days :-) I’ve embedded the trailer below
Your Curiosity should remain unfinished. There’s always another ‘why’ that can be asked. To stop asking ‘why’ is possibly one of the saddest things that can happen to someone.
