Tien Chiu

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On creative frenzy

I don’t know about anyone else, but my creativity goes in phases.  I’ll be a perfectly good citizen for awhile, pursuing my hobbies quietly, and then something happens and I kick into high gear.  I find a hobby to be obsessive about, spend an ungodly amount of money on it, and wind up with what feels a little bit like a binge hangover.  I start eight projects when I know I only have time and attention to finish maybe three of them.  At the end of it I wonder vaguely what possessed me to go THAT far.

I had mostly ascribed this to being bipolar (that kind of behavior being quite common in manic and hypomanic phases), but now I’m not so sure.  I’ve been trying to reconcile my occasional creative binges with the side of me that believes in things like financial planning and not over-acquiring Stuff.  Haven’t yet succeeded; the only thing I seem to be able to do during a binge is try to stay at least slightly rooted in reality.

At any rate, I have now acquired more yarn than I can weave in a year.  I really must stop buying yarn, shuttles, reeds, dyes, and other toys.  It would probably also be good for me not to acquire more Flex 2 development books until I finish the one I’m currently paging through, but I’m not sure I’ll have that much self-restraint.  At least I can expense the latter.

Does everyone else go through phases of buying everything in sight related to a given craft?

Comments

  1. I know what you mean! I’ll be obsessive about acquiring the perfect tools for a project, and then plan far more projects than I can possibly do in the given time. Fabric is my real weakness, yum, silk… The only thing that has saved me is that; being in the education field, my budget for crafty processes takes a hit from reality. Y’know, what with that pesky eating habit and all… 🙂

  2. I do the same thing – whatever is new gets top priority and all the other things I love(d) to do get pushed back. I have enough projects planned for several lifetimes. I find the same thing happens with people I meet – I want to be with them all the time until the next thing catches my attention, and then I am off. I don’t care about that person any less, but there it is.