Hands On - Getting Creative (Again)

Lately I’ve been reconnecting with former co-workers and a recurring theme is emerging from the various conversations. Time and again my friends are talking about a desire to create something more tangible than code. Like me, these folks have been in tech for many years and it’s not that they don’t enjoy their work, but there's a sense that something’s missing. 

I’ve spent a few afternoons the last couple months helping my girlfriend with her candy business. She makes marshmallows and I’ve gone to her kitchen to help her package, spending hours carefully placing her beautiful candy into bags. Perfect confections that people are going to buy and enjoy. The idea of making something like this, such a simple pleasure, is enticing. It’s made me think. What do I make? What do I want to be making?

My dad and I used to make things together. I will never forget the time I told my dad I wanted to make something for my mom's birthday. I was in the second grade and my dad set me up in the garage with some scrap wood, a saw, hammer and some nails. My mom was a teacher, so I planned to make a box for her to hold the papers she was always grading. When it was done, I was so incredibly proud of myself. It wasn’t until years later, when my mom was still using the box, that I noticed the papers hung over the edge by about three inches because I’d never thought of measuring to ensure it was big enough. I just made a box. Pure and simple. And it seemed perfect. It's incredibly the amount of joy I got from making such a simple thing and giving it away.

I have always loved working with my hands. I enjoy building things. My daughter and I spent her spring break this year at home making cat homes out of cardboard boxes. We worked together over three days on a submarine and a couple other houses. There’s something magical about working with your hands. We both felt a great sense of accomplishment looking at the objects we built.

I believe that at heart we are all makers. We are all creative. We all look for ways to express ourselves. For better or worse, the popularity of all the various forms of social media is based on our need for self-expression. There’s nothing wrong with digital media, but I want to anchor myself more in the physical world. Building those simple cardboard houses gave me real joy. We spent hours on the floor measuring, cutting, gluing. We were thrilled when the cat jumped into her new home. We delivered another home to my sister's house for her outdoor cat. I felt deeply satisfied seeing the finished project and my kid gave me a huge hug. I saw how proud she was of herself.

I would love to spend more time with my fingers off the keyboard and tools in my hands. I’m not going to be able to make my living working with my hands, but discovering how much it means to me and how much I’ve missed it is so important. I need to set aside the time to keep this up. We all need ways to recharge our energy and for me, going to the gym isn’t enough. I definitely go to the gym, but it feels more like a required course than an extracurricular activity. I need the extracurriculars.

It’s easy to get lost in the computer screen. The stream of emails, slack chats, checking news, Facebook, Twitter. It’s an endless scroll of updates sucking us in and never letting go. It’s easy to feel like there’s no time for anything else, but time is what we make of it. After this reminder of how deeply I love making things, I am determined to continue to find space for working with my hands again.