Year in Review Regrets?

Kintsugi

Have you ever felt like a project was as badly shattered as this pot? Hopeless? Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of putting a broken object back together with gold.  This restoration preserves the history of the object and changes your relationship to it. Shimode says,

“It’s one beautiful way of living, that you fix your dish by yourself.”

It feels like this also applies to broken processes or plans. What was the initial attraction to the idea? How can you fix whatever didn’t work? How can the information gained shape your next project? I frequently revisit abandoned or failed projects. I’m imagining how much better use I can make of them if I see the flaws as golden threads of learning.

Pentimento

This refers to older drawings or paintings discovered under a more recent one. The term comes from the Italian word for regret. I’d call it revision. I have always had all the drafts of every project I’ve ever done, dated and saved. I keep each edit of my books. These don’t recommend regrets; they represent growth. Write over! Paint over! Cross out at will! This is renewal, not regret, in my mind. It shows development. If you’ve seen an exhibit of drafts of paintings by your favorite artist, you know how much you can learn about their process (and, for me, how much more I respect their genius) as you follow the process of bringing a concept to life. Early versions of projects, as paintings, are a foundation. The version that covers the original represents growth.