Welcome to The Wildroot Parables weekly discussions! This is where we can come together as a community and have real talk with one another: open, honest, gracious, and curious.
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Thank you for entering this space with care!
On Monday, I talked about a word I think I made up, and about how important the process is to creation, not just the outcome. The “stuff around the stuff” in the creative journey.
Today, let’s discuss process vs outcome. What are some areas in your life where the process makes you feel impatient, frustrated, or uncomfortable and you just wish you could rush to the outcome? And on the other hand, what are some areas of your life where you PREFER the process over the outcome?
Arguments or disagreements, with anyone, I am impatient with the process and want to rush to the outcome. It is hard when passions flare and there's misunderstanding. Once a discussion becomes an argument, there's a lot of pericraft required to both calm all parties down and repair relationships. I know there will be peace, and I know that a suitable outcome will be achieved, and I can be really impatient about trying to get there.
This trait of mine makes me really bad at what I call "personal politics" and it got me kicked out of a club in undergrad because I was adamant that my pov was correct and I struggled to put in the persuasion/relationship work to see my idea implemented the way I thought it should be. (Whether I was actually correct is neither here nor there--there's a story here!)
An area where I prefer the process to the outcome is...well, housework is not really the right way to say it. When I am stressed or anxious one way I calm myself down is by finding some simple and repetitive task to do and then just focus on that. I have pretty extreme social anxiety at times and when I was younger I went to this social event and I survived but it drained about all the social energy I had. At the end of the event some of us were helping clean up and they needed someone to mop the floors. It was perfect. I started mopping. It separated me from the lingering crowd while I was still able to contribute something productive and helpful; it was simple and repetitive and had a clear standard for success. It calmed my nerves--I didn't much care about the outcome (clean floor) but valued greatly the process (mopping repetitively).
As a rule, I'm usually impatient with myself because I'm not getting it all RIGHT NOW! I've decided to take the advice I give writers on my own Substack to do a bit every day without editing until the story is done.
Shockingly, I find myself writing more and with better results.
I loved the process of creating my two creativity and wellbeing journals. The first was a collaboration with other artists and I just adored it all. The outcome feels hard because then it’s done and you have to market it and sell it and hope people buy it..: it’s not less than the process but it’s definitely harder for me! ✨
There used to be an ad slogan for an ocean liner: "Getting There is Half the Fun". When I do glass fusing or fiber art, the process is wonderfully engrossing (mostly). But when I have to pack it all up to take to a Holiday Bazaar, set up the display, figure how much change I'll need - nah - I just don't have the retail gene. But there's a reason that next to this table are 2 laundry baskets full of fibers, fabric, frill, glitz - and it is the joy of creating. Thank you for bringing this up!
Emotions...I tend to want closure and feeling settled fast rather than the process of discussion & exploration.
Cooking ... I find the process therapeutic and tend to enjoy the process more than the meal itself.
This is a REALLY good question.
Arguments or disagreements, with anyone, I am impatient with the process and want to rush to the outcome. It is hard when passions flare and there's misunderstanding. Once a discussion becomes an argument, there's a lot of pericraft required to both calm all parties down and repair relationships. I know there will be peace, and I know that a suitable outcome will be achieved, and I can be really impatient about trying to get there.
This trait of mine makes me really bad at what I call "personal politics" and it got me kicked out of a club in undergrad because I was adamant that my pov was correct and I struggled to put in the persuasion/relationship work to see my idea implemented the way I thought it should be. (Whether I was actually correct is neither here nor there--there's a story here!)
An area where I prefer the process to the outcome is...well, housework is not really the right way to say it. When I am stressed or anxious one way I calm myself down is by finding some simple and repetitive task to do and then just focus on that. I have pretty extreme social anxiety at times and when I was younger I went to this social event and I survived but it drained about all the social energy I had. At the end of the event some of us were helping clean up and they needed someone to mop the floors. It was perfect. I started mopping. It separated me from the lingering crowd while I was still able to contribute something productive and helpful; it was simple and repetitive and had a clear standard for success. It calmed my nerves--I didn't much care about the outcome (clean floor) but valued greatly the process (mopping repetitively).
As a rule, I'm usually impatient with myself because I'm not getting it all RIGHT NOW! I've decided to take the advice I give writers on my own Substack to do a bit every day without editing until the story is done.
Shockingly, I find myself writing more and with better results.
Crazy.
Thanks for inviting us to think about this!
I loved the process of creating my two creativity and wellbeing journals. The first was a collaboration with other artists and I just adored it all. The outcome feels hard because then it’s done and you have to market it and sell it and hope people buy it..: it’s not less than the process but it’s definitely harder for me! ✨
There used to be an ad slogan for an ocean liner: "Getting There is Half the Fun". When I do glass fusing or fiber art, the process is wonderfully engrossing (mostly). But when I have to pack it all up to take to a Holiday Bazaar, set up the display, figure how much change I'll need - nah - I just don't have the retail gene. But there's a reason that next to this table are 2 laundry baskets full of fibers, fabric, frill, glitz - and it is the joy of creating. Thank you for bringing this up!
Flannery O’Connor (my fiction writing mentor) has some wisdom on the process/outcome relationship: the most concern coupled with the least concern.