How do you approach your craft? You might read that sentence and think that this doesn’t apply to me. But just give me a second to elaborate.

When I say Craft, I do not necessarily mean art or the act of creating something specifically. Craft can include art and creation, but it doesn’t necessarily have to.

When I think about Craft, I think about anything that you do with intention. An act that you do with thoughtfulness and some measure of planning. Craft is something you do because it is how you exist in the world.

For me it Craft can encompass different things. Craft in art for me is my photography and my writing. It is also increasingly this drawing practice I have begun recently.

Craft is also present in my physical pursuits. Craft is running. The training the consistency. The planning and thinking about what I want to achieve or strive for as a runner. Craft is cycling and going from minimal cycling to a month of nearly 100 mile weeks on the bike. Craft is my on again off again relationship with yoga as I try to develop a long term practice that is a regular part of my life.

Craft also exists in my intellectual pursuits. I think about how and what and why I want to exercise my mind. I love to read, but I am very slow and it takes time. That makes me even more attentive to what I read, because there is a very limited amount of reading I can actually accomplish in a given time frame.

Thankfully, there are audiobooks. This allows me to experience an even wider array of books. And then there are podcasts. I subscribe to so many podcasts that it is impossible to actually listen to them all on a regular basis.

When I talk about Craft in intellectual pursuits, I don’t mean strictly academic tomes or science podcasts. I mean trying to find a wide variety of mentally stimulating content.

I want to be a well rounded person. And to that end I try to take on as many different types of topics as possible. From the serious thought provoking parts of life to the irreverent side splittingly hilarious parts of life. And that means I also watch TV.

And the intellectual side of Craft wraps back around like an ouroboros. To intertwine with the artistic pursuits and the physical pursuits as well. It is probably impossible to pursue art on any level without intellectual curiosity. And Sport is hard to gain momentum and achievement without a thoughtful process in how to move forward.

What does Craft mean to you?

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