Love Is In The Details

I love details, and for me love is found in the detail. I'm not sure if it's because I am a thinker, and I think about things a lot and as a result I want lots of information, but I tend to notice lots of very small things. Every time I walk into a room, I immediately start looking around at all the small things: What colour are the curtains? Do they match the bed? Or the walls? What condition are the windows in? Are they clean? Is there a lot of dust in the corners of the room? Is there a tissue box? If so is it full? This takes me about 2 minutes.

And I do this with everything, all the time. And when it comes to my own stuff it's about 200 times worse. I have my room layed out in a specific way, with my bed on the right, my computer and sound system on the left, next to that I have my desk, and next to that is my cuboard. Everything has its place, my cuboard has shirts hanging up, first short sleeve, then long sleeve, then blazers [I love wearing a collar] then thicker jackets then random stuff. On the far left are my pants, first jeans, then chinos, then formal pants.

As a result of being fairly picky I am a bit of a perfectionist, especially when it comes to choosing clothes. Most people wouldn't guess it but I love clothes. Most people wouldn't say I like clothes because I only really wear black tops and jeans or black pants, but I do. And because I love clothes, I am very detailed when it comes to choosing them.

Example, I spent over two years looking for a specific blazer. I wanted a black blazer, with a slightly textured finish, two buttons on the front, but in standard spacing rather than extended spacing, four buttons on the cuffs, and it needed to have two vents on the back [so the cut needed to be that of a hackers jacket, but with the finish of a formal jacket]. It also needed to have a satin inner finish, which was similar to the black outside, and I wanted the collar to be slightly larger than that of a standard casual jacket. I didn't want large lapels, just slightly larger than normal.

I did eventually find one that was almost right, only problem being that the buttons weren't the right style. I decided to buy it anyway because it was the closest I've ever seen that wasn't an Armani [I did find one about a year before that was perfect but it was a custom Armani and it was about R15 000]. As a result of being so picky I seldom find what I'm looking for, but such is life.

In the same way, if there is something I don't care about I put almost no effort in. For example my car. I really don't like things that require working with my hands and cars need washing, and maintenance and stuff, so I don't really like it. As a result all I ever do is put in petrol and oil, wash the windows and occasionally vaccuum it. I like it to be clean on the inside but that's as far as it will ever go. As a result I'll probably never buy a new car because it's not worth the money loss.

So when it comes to things I love I put in a lot of effort to the details, especially when it comes to my friends. I like to make cards for my friends when it's their birthday, and so I often put in a lot of time when I'm thinking about what I'm going to make for them, and how etc. Remember, if you get a card from me give it a closer look, I hope you'll ble plesantly suprised at the small things.

So what do you find you put a lot of effort into? Is it because you love it or is it because you feel you have to? Why not assess what you put effort into, and find out if you're putting effort into things you love or just things you have to? I'm pretty sure if you put more effort into things you love and less effort into things you don't you'll find yourself more satisfied and less tired.

Here are some things I love putting lots of thought and detail into:

The music I listen to
My room
My clothes
My dreams
My study of the Word
My friends'
My research
My finances [I'm still pretty bad at financial planning]
Football
Cooking [I'm getting into this one]
What I drink [coffee, burban etc]


PS: I believe you never get more than you ask for, so would anyone like to give me R200? I want to go paintballing on Sunday but I'm broke.