Sunset in Sedona, Arizona.
My Crazy Plan
I’m pretty sure the last time I gave you guys a van update I was making decent progress and gaining confidence, but was still feeling a little overwhelmed and insecure. Since then, I’ve continued to work on the van nearly seven days a week and, as expected, my confidence and skill have both improved.
One example of how my confidence has grown is that this whole time I’ve assumed I’d purchase countertops to go with the cabinets I’m building. But then I saw a video of a guy building his own countertops and it honestly didn’t seem that difficult. In fact, the techniques he used were the exact techniques I had already learned earlier in the project. So, figuring I didn’t have much to lose, I decided to go for it!
The same day I made that decision, my engineer neighbor stopped by to check on my progress with the van, which is when I shared with him my “crazy” plan to build the countertops myself. I was curious to see how he'd react, but the fact that he didn’t even flinch at the idea bolstered my confidence even more. He then told me to follow him and we proceeded to walk across the street to his workshop where he pulled back a tarp and showed me a stack of beautiful old wood that he had kept from a previous project and no longer needed. He offered it to me to build my countertops with. I immediately recognized how much of an honor it would be to incorporate this generous gift into my van build and very graciously (and excitedly) accepted his offer.
We got to work immediately, planing off the top layer of wood in order to make each board nice and flat. Every board that came out of the planer smelled so fresh and looked gorgeous with the wood grain fully exposed—it’s safe to say that I was in love.
Once the planing was complete I got to work cutting the boards to size, assorting them in the most aesthetic order, then proceeded to glue and screw them together using a combination of clamps, braces and a pocket hole technique that I’ve grown particularly fond of throughout this project. And you know what—while they still need a ton of work such as sanding, reinforcing, conditioning and staining—the countertops look beautiful already!
It’s so wild to look back even just a handful of weeks to see that I’ve gone from anxious, overwhelmed and literally losing sleep over parts of this project, to now learning cabinetry and building my own countertops—and, most importantly, enjoying the process!
This whole experience thus far has been an important reminder that the presence of fear and friction at the beginning of a chapter doesn’t necessarily mean that the chapter should be avoided. It probably means that I just need to get started.
“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less-than-perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.”
—Mark Victor Hansen
BONUS: This week I’m sharing a song that’s been stuck in my head for the past couple weeks. If you have a good sound system or speaker, I recommend listening on that, as there’s some depth to the song, particularly the background chorus, that a phone speaker might not pick up as well. But I suspect it'll sound nice either way. You'll find a the link to the song below. I hope you enjoy it!
