Pottery
I just had tea out of the first mug I ever made. (In the process, I managed to set the stove on fire - there was something flammable under one of the burners, so flames started coming from under the tea kettle. It was exciting. But nobody got hurt, so it was fine). It's a really good feeling to know that I made that mug and there's none like it anywhere else in the world. It's not even a particularly wonderful mug; the rim is not the right shape for easy drinking, the glazing is off on the outside, and there's glaze from another pot dripped inside of it. It's still a good mug, though.
I think pottery is really healthy for me. I love it and can spend hours doing it, trying to get things just right. I do get emotionally invested in the things I make because there's a lot of work that goes into them. I think the healthy thing, though, is that I have to remember that something could go wrong at any point in the process, no matter how well my part goes. I learned that with bowls; the best one I ever threw (made on the wheel) cracked in the first firing, and the only thing I could do with it was smash it. From being squished while wet to being dropped while someone's unloading the kiln, there are a lot of things that can go wrong that I can't control at all. I think sometimes I need to remember that for life in general.
Of course, just because things could go wrong doesn't mean I don't try. Far from it - I put in a lot of effort to everything I make, because if it goes right, it'll be worth it. Sometimes things don't go badly, but go differently, and that's good too. It's nice to not have to be perfect; with pottery, I don't always have to be in control.
I think pottery is really healthy for me. I love it and can spend hours doing it, trying to get things just right. I do get emotionally invested in the things I make because there's a lot of work that goes into them. I think the healthy thing, though, is that I have to remember that something could go wrong at any point in the process, no matter how well my part goes. I learned that with bowls; the best one I ever threw (made on the wheel) cracked in the first firing, and the only thing I could do with it was smash it. From being squished while wet to being dropped while someone's unloading the kiln, there are a lot of things that can go wrong that I can't control at all. I think sometimes I need to remember that for life in general.
Of course, just because things could go wrong doesn't mean I don't try. Far from it - I put in a lot of effort to everything I make, because if it goes right, it'll be worth it. Sometimes things don't go badly, but go differently, and that's good too. It's nice to not have to be perfect; with pottery, I don't always have to be in control.