Projects

Have you ever given thought to what projects you might do? Last week, my roommate convinced me that I need to do some more things that have tangible, real-world results. When he said that, it hit home - hard. I've offered to volunteer, tutoring middle school students in math and science. I'm helping another friend do trail work for the Sudbury Valley Trustees. I'm thinking of trying my hand at some art work at home. At work, I've spoken to my boss about getting a change of pace and a new machine. I thought about trying some home computer or electronics projects and surprised myself by having a pretty negative gut reaction to doing that kind of recreation. Perhaps I'm afraid that those things are simply too ephemeral? I guess that, from this perspective, I see three categories of projects -

- projects that involve helping others, where the end result is a connection to that person
- projects in which you create something more or less permanent, like an art project
- projects in which the benefit is some change in yourself more than the object you have created

All my life I have been obsessed with projects of the third kind. I see home computer and electronics projects as being more or less of that kind. Perhaps that is why I feel this way.
Am I missing anything?