The Pots You Never Made

Ideas collecting dust.

There are pots you never made. They are all the pots in your sketchbook or notes. You may have a few great lines saved in a notebook somewhere or even a small sketch of a painting you would like to start. Someday, you will get to make the work and pots you never made. But maybe not today. You have plenty of time to make the pots you never made tomorrow. Today, you have just a few other things to get done that happen to be a little more important.

The unfinished pots in your mind are starting to gather dust on the shelves; you know they are there; you just need to find the time to create them. Many shelves filled with unpainted pots are taking up space in the back of your mind, and you intend to give them attention soon. Some of these pots are valuable collectibles you've had for a long time, but you've never made the effort to showcase them. These unmade pots are starting to gather cobwebs.

Some of the pots you've never made might be years old now, yet they still reside in the back of your mind. Sometimes, you take out the drawings and sketches and tell people about them. Others think you have great ideas, and you agree with them. All you need is a bit of free time, and you'll start working on the pots you never made. The collection will be amazing. Right now, you have a few sketchbooks filled with ideas.

Your loved ones come to see you. The undertaker did a great job. It looks like you're sleeping. They can't believe how quickly things spread. Just last month, you were fine. They shed tears at your funeral. They have your drawings and sketchbooks there, along with framed pictures from your life.

Pottery is something you always wanted to try, but you never got to it the way you wanted. “They made a few pieces for sure, but nothing like in the sketchbooks.” say your loved ones and friends at the celebration of life dinner.

Twenty years later, a box of sketchbooks ends up at the estate sale of one of your loved ones. An artist who makes pots buys your sketchbooks for a few dollars and leaves through the yellowed pages, becoming excited. The pots you never made were a great idea, and the concept could be done with a little work.

The young artist understands what you were trying to say, sees the change you were trying to make, and has respect for the effort you put into the pots you never made. They come across your name, but you are now just a stranger to the living. The young artist is inspired and decides to throw a few of your pots to see what might happen.

Now is the time to create the pots you've always wanted to make. If you don't create them, who will? If not now, then when? Don't leave your projects sitting for too long. You never know when you might run out of time.

Try to do a little each day to at least make something that you can show to people who might appreciate it. It would be a shame to have the pots you never made be created by someone else. It would also be a shame if all those pots you never made remained only as ideas and were lost forever.