On painting

The art of painting is in the preparation.  Have you ever had to paint something?  A wall, a door, window trim, no matter what the job the true work is in the preparation.  You can’t just open up a can of paint, dip in your brush and get to work.  No, there are steps to be followed in order to make sure the job is done right.

First you fill the holes.  Once the holes are filled you sand down the rough spots, until you are working with a perfectly smooth canvas.  After you have sanded your area you wipe everything down with a wet cloth, removing the dust and grime and exposing a clean surface.  When everything is clean and ready to go, you tape along the edges and around anything you wish to protect.  This is one of the most important steps in your preparation, and should be done slowly and with great care.  Once the surface is clean and smooth, once the edges are taped and protected, the easy part of the project begins, and that is lathering on the paint. 

Of course, painting is the easy part.  It’s everything that comes before that takes the most time and requires the most attention to detail.  If you skip even one step or try to cut even the tiniest corner, it can make a noticeable difference on the final outcome of your project.  While this isn’t always entirely detrimental, it can take away a small piece of one’s self satisfaction.

I feel through the course of our lives we are always undergoing painting projects, and not just on walls, windows and doors, but on ourselves.  We are constantly filling holes, working hard to eliminate our rough patches, and yearning always to wipe the slate clean and start again, fresh and new.  We get tired of the person we are and think, maybe I’ll try being something different.  Someone different.  Someone more colorful. 

So we slap on a new color to try out for awhile but it doesn’t always….fit.  Sometimes no matter how diligently you complete the prep work, the final outcome just isn’t what we wanted, what we expected.  Sometimes we are actually better off with what we started with.

I’m not sure if this rambling metaphor has a conclusion or a definite point.  But I will try in the least amount of words possible to sum up what I think I was trying to say.  Sound fair?

 We spend the majority of our lives prepping; for new careers, new haircuts, new houses, and new babies.  We spend so much time getting ready for all these major milestones in our lives, and then we spend even more time sanding them down to make them absolutely perfect, wiping them off so they always stay clean and new, then taping them off to protect and keep things just the way they are.  We do all these things, and it all takes so much time.  I’m wondering if our lives are just an endless series of painting projects, and I wonder if even after all the prepping are we ever really ready for what life has to throw at us.  On top of that, if we are keeping ourselves so busy with preparing, when do we finally get to start living?  Is living in the preparations, or can we actually skip all the tedious steps and get right to the heart of the matter?

I have never pretended to know the answers to any of the questions I pose, but I think at some point we have to just say enough is enough.  Sooner or later we need to just put down the sanding block, throw down the wet towel, and call it good with the painters tape.

At some point, we have to just pick up our brushes and finally start to paint.