Lessons>Mistakes

There’s a great adage in woodworking that goes something like; the true measure of an accomplished woodworker is how one deals with, or hides their mistakes. Because there will be many. Wood can be fussy. It can splinter and chip, it can easily be stained with glue that you didn’t see until too late, not to mention the wood movement among many other things that can go wrong. The healthiest approach to any of this is patience of course, but understanding as well. To see a flaw and be aware of it and realize the opportunity to grow and learn is one of the greatest gifts from the woodshop. There may be times of great disappointment with one’s work or attempts to create a piece the way it was first envisioned in one’s mind but the lessons are always there to be learned if you make yourself available to learn them. The work can reveal.

So in life too, especially as we age, these “flaws” and '‘mistakes” in our own selves become far too apparent. But what can we do? For one we can know, on some level, that it will happen and also we are not alone in it, It’s happening to everyone everywhere. The way we bickered with a loved one, the missed opportunities in life, or even small thing like burnt toast or forgetting where we put our keys.

As well as the physical changes our minds and bodies go through that can be scary in and of itself. One thing I’m constantly confronted with is the inability to do thing the way I once did. It can be extremely frustrating. I say to myself “But I could do this just fine last week!!” . The mantra I try to implement instead is “This way of doing things has proven ineffective”. While so many things work well for us for so long there comes a time when this way will not work any longer. And for the physical changes? There is so much beauty in our flaws. Our scars tell our stories. Our wrinkles show our wisdom. Our limps show our experience. Are these all to be hidden or embraced? Society embraces beauty and rejects humility. But it is not our master. We are masters of our own story and we can embrace our changes and our flaws and walk with our head held high.

In woodworking we can sometimes just sand away these flaws. Smooth over the roughness. Blend it into the surroundings. And much like as in life we too can, at times, let things go, we can smooth out our own roughness. Or we may choose to mask them. Or even just cut them off and replace them.

I may have rambled here a bit but i do hope the sentiment is there. Mistakes happen but they are not always failures and woodworking does an amazing job at shining a mirror into our own lives to reveal what we may need to sand out or replace, or sometimes just let go.