Meticulousness

You probably know by now that I live a very emotion driven, poorly planned life. That is to say, I really value going at something with what you have, unprepared and raging. Or as Joanna Newsom put it "heartbroke and inchoate," full of emotion and totally without regard for any sense of preparation.

This is all true. I endorse these things. I feel like the best way to learn guitar is to hold it for a very long time without an instruction manual. The best way to play with legos is just to sit there and start building.

But...

There is value to being meticulous. There is also something beautiful to thoughtful, refined strokes that are every inch a plan. What I suggest, as I'm pulled in both directions, is to find a thing or a few that you can exercise your meticulousness on. For me it as a journal. A single journal in the midst of many ill planned and scribbled upon things. But this single journal gets a perfectly crafted header for each entry and is always written in an as-good-as-is-possible script.

Maybe you could do this for a sketch book or a photo album. Maybe this is just how you keep your closet or your sock drawer or knife drawer or tool kit. But I feel like it should be something physical that can give you that together and planned sense.

I also think that if this is your dominant mode, you should scroll right back up to the top and see the comments on the usefulness of the unplanned and ill-advised. But still. A little order in the midst of a chaotic world can be nice. And reigning in the nebulous mass of your own body with a couple of carefully chosen pen strokes or knife slices can be good for the soul.

When used in measure.