Do It Yourself

Welcome to do it yourself Monday.  You would be surprised what you are capable of doing. I was. This seems funny but my first project was cutting the grass. I was twenty-three years old and had never cut grass in my life but found myself in a situation where it wasn’t going to cut itself so I went out and bought a mower, read the directions and cut the grass. That was when I knew that there was nothing I couldn’t do and nothing would stop me from learning how to do everything for myself. That was the beginning of who I am now.

This is a weekly “do it yourself” blog. We will talk about different projects each week. Today’s blog, however, is about having confidence in yourself to do it, getting the nerve to attempt it. It is like anything else be informed, be smart but most important be safe.  Do go jumping into a project acting first and thinking later as it WILL end badly.

Since my first lawn mowing project, I have become excellent at painting and wallpapering. I have learned how to dry wall, install light fixtures, ceramic tile, showers, pavers, surround sound, sinks, toilets, bathtubs. I have put in electrical outlets where there were none. I have built shelves, benches and a pantry.

Many years ago before I realized my potential. I was putting up Christmas decorations outside. I wanted to be able to just flick a light switch in the entry hall to turn on the outdoor lights. I hated going outside to unplug them from the outlet behind the shrubberies. I took the cover off of the electrical outlet on the inside wall, which was in the living room, opposite the outside outlet keeping in mind two things, I knew the two outlets were on the same power source and I knew that the light switch in the entry hall was connected to that inside outlet. I studied the wires carefully until I figured it out and then went to work on switching them and it worked!!! I did it! It may not seem like such a big deal to some but I felt unstoppable from there on. That was the day I knew that I could do ANYTHING I put my mind to.

There are some people who will just plain never have the ability to do some projects but if you have patience, if you have a shred of natural ability and you have the desire to do it, you can do almost anything. I hope this blog has inspired the confidence to take on some of the projects you’ve wanted to do. Feel free to comment and tell me what project you are wanting to tackle. Come back next Monday for my blog on Wood Paneling – Paint it? Get Rid of it? What?