The Mystery of Unfinished Things
Perhaps we've been measuring completion on too short a timeline.
For nearly a decade, I have been developing Quantum MeMoir.
Or perhaps... Quantum MeMoir has been cultivating me.
(If you prefer to listen instead of read… watch the video above)
In my Quantum MeMoir lifestyle practice…
The Intend Sphere offered a single word:
MYstery.
Yes... I intentionally play with words.
Sometimes they reveal ideas before I fully understand them.
As I moved through my morning... coffee, chores, lunch... a familiar pattern quietly stepped into view.
Timing.
Procrastination.
Not finishing.
For years, I’ve judged myself for the number of unfinished projects scattered throughout my life.
A theory
An oracle deck
A painting
A sketch
A mind map
A relationship
A New Habit…
Something would call to me with incredible energy. I’d begin. I’d pour myself into it.
Then...
I’d drift.
For a long time, I interpreted that drift as failure.
As inconsistency.
As proof that I lacked discipline.
But standing here, nearly a decade later, I can finally see something I couldn’t see from inside the moment.
Those works weren’t abandoned.
They were becoming…
Each one was waiting for another raw element to appear.
Another experience.
Another conversation.
Another heartbreak.
Another insight.
Another cycle.
I return to them.
The activity of creating never really stopped.
It simply continued within me…
The sketches became philosophy.
The philosophy became conversations.
The conversations became new artwork.
The artwork became Mind Maps.
The Mind Maps became a way of seeing.
And somehow...
everything kept feeding everything else.
That realization has changed the way I think about completion.
Perhaps nothing meaningful is ever truly finished.
Maybe… it simply reaches the next version of itself.
As human beings, we experience reality through beautifully limited senses.
Compared to the vastness of existence... all of space, all of time, every possible path that could unfold...
We perceive only the smallest sliver of what is available.
There are infinite possibilities surrounding every moment.
How could I possibly [k]NOW…
Which unfinished sketch is actually waiting for its perfect season?
Which half-developed idea will become the cornerstone of a new Mind Map?
Which Mind Map drawing will suddenly make sense ten years from now?
I can’t.
That’s the MYstery.
I’ve spent enough years worrying about whether something was good or bad.
Right or wrong.
Complete or abandoned.
I’m learning to care less about those judgments.
Because every cycle teaches me the same lesson.
Nothing is wasted.
Every page.
Every drawing.
Every abandoned idea.
Every notebook.
Every failed experiment.
Every unexpected conversation.
Every quiet observation.
They all become raw materials for whatever comes next.
Maybe that’s what magic has always meant to me.
Not controlling the outcome.
Not predicting the future.
But participating so fully in the mystery of life that ordinary moments quietly transform into something I never could have planned.
So here’s to the mystery…
I hope you enjoyed the preview and evolution of my artwork over the last 8 years…
You can find a collection of my original sketches, drawings, paintings, and visual explorations in my Quantum MeMoir Etsy Shop…
Or in the Quantum MeMoir Gallery…
Some are finished.
Some are still becoming.
In truth...
I no longer know the difference.
If one of them speaks to you, I’d love to tell you its story.
If you’d like to purchase an original, reprint or custom map simply reach out.
I’d be honored to share a little piece of the journey.
Perhaps completion isn't an event. It's a perspective.
Your Muse,
Cheryl Crow
I thoroughly enjoyed this essay! It makes me feel better that everyone has projects that sit unfinished, waiting for the right time, the right headspace, and the right inspiration. 🩷
I did a reading of this musing... with some artwork in the background...
https://youtu.be/yAD5daoVNG0