Tip #23: Take on a long-term project

Continuing the discussion about permanence and stability for the single life that lasts forever, there are things you can do in the meantime while you are waiting that will keep yourself preoccupied and still give you that sense of settling in for the long haul. I'm talking about "projects," that is, long-term projects that take months or years to bring to fruition.

The kind of long-term project is up to you, and I've talked about some of them in previous blog entries (taking on new hobbies, for example). There are endless possibilities; it's just a matter of finding what interests you and what you can afford. Whether it's cultivating a flower, herb, or vegetable garden, reading or writing a grand novel, constructing a furniture piece, restoring a car or a boat, weaving a tapestry, solving a puzzle, composing a song, building an unusual collection, designing an art piece, or yes, even formulating a blog — the purpose is to get out of the transitory mindset that you could be jumping somewhere else any day. When you've invested considerable effort in something that is yet unfinished, you're more inclined to want to stay and see it through to completion. That's a good thing.

Seeing your project grow and develop surely provides a sense of permanence and even personal satisfaction, but projects also produce a secondary effect which is beneficial to the single adult. Long-term projects take patience and tenacity to make them successful. Relationships do too. Forcing yourself to stick with something for an extended period of time is a good way to sharpen those useful skills that might help down the road, should the road take you down there. It also helps fight boredom and frustration while you wait and wait and wait and wait and wait. It gives you some kind of goal to look towards, so that time doesn't seem to crawl as slowly as it does.