Wooden Things

Y’all. It’s really cool to fall into things that feel like they’re right for you. It’s been happening a lot lately – like with this crazy date I took myself on a few weeks ago to a wood turning studio.

I recently saw a video on Instagram of someone making a wooden bowl out of a block of wood and it was captivating. Within an hour of watching it, I called and signed up for an all-day, one-on-one lesson with a professional wood turner that lives just outside of Atlanta. I went, nervously, because like, what am I doing making rash decisions about woodworking. I texted a friend before walking in to get the reassurance I needed that even though I was jumping off the high dive head first into something I knew nothing about, that I wasn’t crazy. I had no idea what I was getting into.

That day, I spent 8 hours with a guy who has been doing this professionally for 50 years. He makes incredibly gorgeous things and makes it look so easy. Fact: it’s not easy. I stumbled through wonky looking bowls all day that he so graciously finessed for me. And in life, those are my favorite kinds of people – the ones who can take my wonky messes that I’ve worked so hard on and somehow show me the beauty and potential in them. I left that day with a cardboard box full of beautiful wooden things that I made, a new skill, and honestly, an excitement that I’ve rarely felt. It was a good day. I came home, took a shower, snuggled my dogs, and felt too excited and proud to go to sleep.

I’m not lying when I say that making wooden things is my idea of an incredible Friday night. People say my idea of a good time should include bros and wine, but I prefer La Croix and pine. There are plenty of tools living in this world, but ya gurl just wants the kind that I can sharpen.

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a plan to buy a lathe and do some serious wood turning in my garage. I’ll hang some string lights above it, make sure there’s a perfect spot for my whiskey glass, hook up my bluetooth speaker, you know, really do the shed up nicely. I’m just one large purchase away from making and selling you gorgeous wooden bowls. You in?!

And to think I almost didn’t go. It took some serious bravery to jump in head first for an all-day personal lesson on something I’ve never ever been exposed to before. Like, I walked in not even being sure I knew what a lathe was. I had only seen one Instagram video that was less than a minute long and suddenly, I was standing in the middle of a woodworking studio wearing very flattering safety googles, sweating, and covered in wood chips. It could be considered impulsive, sure, but the more I think about it, it feels like it was just a really fast, good decision. A risk that took me outside of my comfort zone and gave me a chance to grow. The growing pains that told me, “just cancel and bake…you don’t know how to do this” were all shushed when I found myself so caught up in turning a bowl that I lost all track of time. Talk about mindfulness. I was deep in it.

So maybe this is something I do now. Or maybe it’s something I’ll just do for a few months. Or maybe it’s a forever thing. I don’t know. But I’m smarter now than I was before I learned to do this. I gained a skill and upped my game. In the very thing that I blindly jumped head first into, I found something I love. And that’s really cool.