Playing Catch Up and UFOs

I know you all can relate. Sometimes, we just get behind. I feel like my Golden Retriever who used to chase after his tail. Once in a while he would actually catch it, but most of the time he would twirl and twirl and twirl and..... I'm twirling, feverishly trying to catch my tail.

When I get behind, I react in one of two ways. One: I stand like a deer in headlights wondering what I should be doing next. The result is not getting anything done and slipping further and further behind. 

Two: I dive in with one thing and before I know it, it is completed, and I move onto the next. This, of course, is the productive response, but all too often I respond like the deer in headlights. The tasks at hand just seem insurmountable and, I think that my paltry efforts to do something will do noting to chip away at the mountain ahead. 

My closets, second bedroom, and, OK, my third bedroom, too, are filled with the remnants of my deer in headlights responses. I just give up. I'm way too far behind or simply lost interest. I'll do it in another lifetime--maybe. 

Back about 10 or more years ago (it is probably more like 15-20), Fons & Porter ran a contest. They posed a question every month and the best response won. I have since forgotten the question I responded to, but it was about UFOs. They wanted to know how we approach or feel about UFOs. My response won, and I was awarded a wonderful gift basket of goodies. I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was something to this effect: UFOs are a map of our destinations along our quilting journey. They reflect techniques tried that didn't go so well. They show us our color choices at the time. "What was I thinking?" is often my response. They show us our perfectionism and projects that didn't make the cut. They show us how much we have progressed in our skills and in our project choices and interests. Sometimes UFOs are meant to be UFOs and that's OK. Our tastes, abilities, and interests change, sometimes quite rapidly.

We only have one life. I want to live that life doing the projects I am interested in doing. I don't want to look back and think of all that I left undone and should be doing even if I don't like them any more. I want to look back and see all that I have done, learned, and accomplished even if I don't have finished projects to show for it. They all contributed to where I am now as a quilter and sewist.