Completed: #33. Hang something on the wall

Despite all appearances, perhaps, I am a highly avoidant person. When I have a negative experience with something, my mind does much anxious blocking prevention from ever having me do that thing again. This has been problematic in therapeutic endeavours and physical activity. This is why it is good that I am paid to be at work (wherein I discover negative experiences are 1. learning experiences, 2. par for the course, and 3. far outweighed here by the positives -- so you'd think I'd take this and largely apply it to my life. Alas.) This is why I will likely never work at a camp again, never make another social outing at a bar, never take another kickboxing class, never try my hand at homemade sushi again, and why I avoid phone calls if there is any other option, ad infinitum. Those things are perhaps understandable.

My hope, though, is that this all helps to give you context for why such an apparently "easy" goal is on this list. I honestly, before today, thought that hammering nails and screws (ha) for hanging was an art for the especially skilled.

This is because once I tried to hang one of my own paintings and the first nail must have been positioned over a stud and kept breaking when I tried (very hard) to hammer it. In the next position, the nail fell into the wall. Twice. This was maybe 7 or 8 years ago. I swore off ever hanging anything again.

I'd leave it to the pros -- my mom and my fiancé: "Little help? Please?"

The trouble with having very understanding people around you is that of course they will do things to help ease your anxiety and so it is easy to avoid "difficult" things forever.

(Though, again, you'd think if I eventually learned how to drive a car - I failed like seven driving tests in my life, p.s.* - I could take on hammering a nail again. Alas.)

In accordance with my last goal, I made so many anatomical birch scroll wood burns that my studio was getting crowded. I knew where I wanted to hang them but felt I couldn't fairly ask Geoff to hammer eight nails in a row with specific width expectations. I'd just have to rough it out on my own.

It was fine.

To quote a church sign, it wasn't "rocket surgery" (most badass profession ftw).

I used pliers to flatten some photo clips and hemp string to create some rustic hanging ties, because I thought it went best with the aesthetic. Then I secured them with a glue gun. Easy. The second easiest thing I did today, by the way. The first involved nails and a hammer. 

That second task was so invigoratingly easy that I followed it up by screwdriving a screw into the wall and hanging my beautiful vintage garage-saled bird clock that I bought in, oh, August?

Need to hang some things? Hit me up. Better yet, do it yourself. I believe in you.

*Eight years on the road now and no accidents, by the way. You want to talk about anxiety? I just hate passengers with clipboards and silent judgement.



Original goal list posted here