The "Too Awesome to Use" item

Have you ever gotten something super cool and said to yourself, "I need to save this for a special occasion."? This happens to me fairly often. I buy or receive a fancy notebook or an art or crafty item and I squirrel it away till that magical, “just right” moment comes along. I've been doing this ever since I was a kid. I would spend hours looking through craft books, dreaming of the day when I would finally make a particular project. And consequently, I didn't spend much time actually making the crafts I fantasized about.

The trouble with this sort of thinking is that those “just right” moments rarely make themselves apparent. As you put off and hold back for whatever reason, that super cool thing never ends up getting used. It sits on a shelf or in a box gathering dust, a monument to what the Never Was.

This phenomenon is refereed to as “the item too awesome to use” in video gaming culture. You find a secret treasure chest with the most epic, powerful potion or trinket ever and you spend the rest of the game not using it for fear of “wasting” it. You get creamed by enemies and die more often than you need to and once you've finally beaten the game, your epic item is still sitting in your inventory, untouched.

Once I finally realized how depressing this was, I started doing the opposite of my stockpiling tendencies; actually using the cool stuff I had.

Now, I'm not perfect at this. I still tend to hoard things a little longer than I should. But I have gotten better at recognizing when I just need to set my fears about “wasting” or “ruining” aside and go for it. Example: This week, I came across a set of blank, wooden Russian nesting dolls.

 I'd bought them a few years ago and packed them away, waiting till I had the “perfect” idea. But, after seeing them again, instead of putting the dolls back in storage, I start doodling on them. No plan. No epic vision. Just doodles. And you know what, I think they turned out pretty nice.

Could I have done something cooler or more interesting if I'd waited longer? Possibly. But I've realized I'm more disappointed by the thought of a house full of unused supplies than a house full of not quite perfect projects. And, if I get another, better idea for these Russian nesting dolls, I can always go buy another set from the craft store. (You'd be surprised at how often you can just “buy” another super special item if you mess up the first one.)

Now, I'm not saying you should never save anything for a special occasion. But be careful not to let the “special someday” steal from present opportunities. You have time and resources now. That's pretty special in and of itself.

onward and upwards,

Beth