Cutting Wire

Cutting wire got me thinking. As I sat on the floor of my garage in the 90 degree heat, with sawdust sticking everywhere, I couldn't help but notice a few things.
The first was that I had gotten to use my wire cutters...which doesn't sound like anything. But these were in fact my first tool ever, and the only tool that have ever belonged solely to me. My dad got them for me when I was in 8th grade, for dressmaking, in fact. The dress has been dismantled (thankfully), but I remember so clearly picking them out. In a way, that dress was one of my first experiences with building, so I'll give it at least a little credit in starting this whole project.  The wire cutters have lived on my bookshelf between books and art supplies ever since, so it was fun getting to pull them out and use them again.

The second thing I noticed is that I have an amazing knack for doing things in an unbelievably inefficient way. The plans gave a seemingly quick and easy way of cutting, where you wrap the wire around cardboard and make one clean cut...so simple. What I realized is that I'm not strong enough to bend the wire around a 3 inch piece of cardboard over a hundred times, as skinny as the wire is. So instead I sat and cut 80 six inch pieces of wire individually. As I measured and chopped away, I couldn't help but think there was an easier way to do this. Now that I sit down, afterwards, I can think of a million ways I could've done that differently, if I'd only thought of them before.

My problem is that I do this a lot...not just in my project but in other parts of my life. Applying to college was the most agonizing experience, because I drew it out forever and didn't think through my decisions fully. I make communicating with other people extremely difficult, and then spend a lot of time worrying about trying to fix problems I've caused because I could not say what I originally meant to.  I find I always end up doing things the "hard way", and I'm not so sure why.

But if I saw how cutting wire on the garage floor is tangible to real life, then maybe today's inefficiency was not a complete waste.