It’s okay to do it an be done with it

One of the most underrated skills in the field of creativity is having the restraint to execute finite projects.

Because we live in such a competitive, a noisy, workaholic marketplace where everybody feels pressured to keep doing everything forever, out of a fear of missing out and becoming irrelevant as an artist.

And so, to announce that you’ve finished something, that you’re really proud of it, and that now you’re going to move on with your life, is both rare and valuable.

Someone who sets boundaries shows tremendous confidence in their creative talent, serious compassion for their wellbeing and deep contentment about their work.

My gameshow project was the most fun I’ve ever had making something out of nothing. Over the course of seven years, that project grew from a writing exercise to a series of blog posts to a few corporate workshops to a podcast to a card game to hardcover book. All the measures that I set out at the start were accomplished, and then some.

And eventually, I just stopped. It was over. Because it was just a project, not a lifelong commitment. It’s not supposed to last forever. It’s more about the excitement at having discovered something wroth doing, doing that thing, enjoying how you grow along the way, and when it runs its course, you move on.

What are you still doing out of guilt? What necessary ending are you afraid to make because you think you will disappear if you stop?

This is a really hard skill to master. It’s a combination of all the unsexiest of habits, like restraint, surrender, acceptance, enoughness and contentment.

George Washington’s farewell address, after completing his term as our country’s first president, is a profound study on this very skill. George announced his retirement from public office with this sentiment:

“I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of my hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. After forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.“

It’s okay to do it and be done with it. You don’t have to do everything forever.

Give yourself that gift. Allow the many projects and experiences and chapters of your life to run their course.

And when that time comes, when life tells you that something is over, hold your head up high, say godspeed, and give thanks that your candle was able to shed a brief, but lovely light.

All the while trusting that there will be a new flame on the horizon, ready to burn anew.

What is it finally time for you to end?