I was honored that my neighbor was so pleased to show me the cabinets she is staining while they’re at such an early stage. Her home looked like you would expect during a project like this. All the contents of her entire home were strewn about. I ooohed and awwwwed over what she was up to, and we enjoyed talking about how things were unfolding, what else she was considering doing and on and on.
The next evening. Bob and I were returning from a walk when we saw my neighbor. She had knobs for her new cabinets. I was eager to see them, and suggested Bob come in, too, to see how good the stain looks. She wanted to wait for her project to be complete before he saw it. I went in and admired the new knobs alone.
I get it. There are some people I love to share my unfinished work with, and with others I prefer to wait for more completion.
When I began making changes at my foundation, there were only two people I invited in. That’s expanding, but I still am careful of whom I invite into my process. In yesterday’s post, I wrote of how Anthony Bourdain tunes out the voices of family and possible readers in favor of his own. He makes tuning those voices out sound easy. Perhaps it is for him. But for me, giving birth to a new idea or expression is a delicate process. I am very selective about who gets invited in.
And probably you need to be selective, too.