My mother has an expression that she uses when describing people she has met in her life. She calls them ‘Gunnas’. That is, these people are always ‘Gunna do this or gunna do that’ but their dreams never reach their reality.
This morning during my meditation, it came to me that I have become one of those ‘gunnas’.
I have so many things in my life that I want to do and achieve. One day I’m gunna do it all.
The Garden Gnome has often said to me “I thought you said that you were going to do such-and-such”? To which I reply “I fully intend to. Life just keeps getting in the way.”
He often reminds me about the outdoor setting that I want to create using my great Grandmother’s kitchen table and chairs. We bought two chairs home from my mother’s shed with the intention of stripping them back and painting them. The challenge was to complete those two chairs before we bought home more of the dining setting. I was all ‘gung-ho’ about it and went out and brought everything that I needed to complete the job. That was almost two years ago now and the chairs are still in our shed waiting for the work to begin. However, I harbour full intentions of completing the task.
Then there are the countless UFO’s (Unfinished Objects for those who weren’t quite certain what I meant) in my craft cupboard. Some of them date back almost 20 years now. Oh yes, I pull them out and do a little to them here and there but then my interest wanes (or I find something else that I want to do) and they go back into the cupboard. I have a crosstitch sampler that I began working on about…. hmmmm…. not sure how many years ago now. I am 70% done with it. But I am determined to finish it one day.
Just please don’t get me started on how far behind I am on putting together the family scrapbooks or how many patterns or kits I have in my craft cupboard awaiting completion. Have I mentioned just how many wonderful things I find each day that I add to the list I keep in my head of ‘gunna dos’?
It’s a difficult thing this life. There is so much to do and only limited time to do it.
We all have dreams. That’s a given.
Perhaps some of us have more dreams than we really need to have.
I guess I’m one of those people.
I want to experience life.
I want to create.
I want to travel.
I want to do so many things and …….
One day I’m gunna do it all you know.
suzjones.wordpress.com 
That’s exactly what I think about my dreams
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I think as long as we continue to harbour hope that we will achieve them we can get through the ‘gunna’ stage.
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Definitely
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I think a lot of it has to do with attachment. Imagine how simple our lives would be if we weren’t attached to things? Difficult to let go though, isn’t it?
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Very much so. I guess it’s all about wishing to achieve things with me.
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Do it! Take those projects one by one and finish them, completion is important. I realise that one of my biggest problems with yo-yo dieting over the years is that I never finished losing weight before, I never reached an ultimate goal, I settled, I stopped, I forgot that I was gunna be a size 10 and made myself content with a size 14. I had so many half done projects too and I realised that I had to start completing, I had to stop being a gunna and be an achiever in all things and that only then would it all translate into me reaching an actual goal with my weight and sticking there, feeling accomlished, feeling complete and wanting to maintain it rather than half doing, never finishing so never having something to maintain and weight gain not being a failure, it was just a step back on the half done path. Hope I’m making sense here I’m trying to type quickly as I’ve so much reading to catch up on but since I started actually taking my projects and finishing them I have a self belief that I can’t explain and it spurs me on to know that I can apply this to everything in my life. Dig out your projects and start to complete them… the effects on all aspects of your life might be surprising.
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Thank you. Your reply brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
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I guess if we drop the shoulds, it’s a great way to live. Meandering through projects, picking them up and putting them down, as the mood moves us.
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It’s not just the little projects though Nia, it sometimes crosses over into other parts of my life. I begin something and then don’t follow through. It is something I really should work on.
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Ima gunna be with you on this one. One project at a time.
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Yep. We. Can. Do. It. 🙂
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Oh I hear you! 🙂 I’m fairly gentle with myself when it comes to craft projects, though. Those “gunnas” don’t burden me too much. It’s the others which do … the life ones. Still, I’ve done a great deal already, and have a long time left to do the rest!
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See, that is my problem. It’s not just the craft projects. I just wrote about the craft projects in my post though. But I’m cheering you on and I know between us we can do this. 🙂
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Too right!
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I must admit that I have many not ended projects too. I’m working on those now and will end them one by one.
I have been moving so many times through the last years and then I see how much I still carry with me.
A great post Sue 🙂
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Thank you Irene. Good luck with your projects. 🙂
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Just one little idea regarding UFOs. This helped me immensely a few years back. While there were some I kept and did want to finish, there were some whose time truly had passed. I found that it was better to prioritize the ones that I really wanted to finish and give myself permission to pass the other ones on to a new home. One of the most freeing things i ever did. The projects I finished were awesome. I never missed the other ones. And I no longer was storing all that stuff and its accompanying guilt.
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Thanks Deborah. That’s awesome advice.
I did do that with one project. I kept parts of it (such as the fabrics etc) but gave up on the rest of it. I’ll look into my other ones.
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One other benefit. I found that once I went through that process, I was much more selective about the new projects I took on. I’ve rarely felt the need to go through things again. I realized that my interests had changed over time and that it just made more sense to acknowledge that and move on.
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Yes. I find that now when I look at kits and things, I think “Will I actually do that” lol
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I think they call that “maturity.” haha
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Thanks for the ping back my dear. 🙂
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Suz…thank you for this post today… from the bottom of my silly little heart ❤
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You are welcome from the bottom of my silly little heart ❤
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😀
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I like your mum’s term. I’m not one of those people though. If I’m gunna do it, I’ve already started doing it. I guess it’s a case of knowing how unpredictable life is.
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That’s true. I think that sometimes we don’t finish things because we outgrow their purpose at that point. After reading Belinda’s post on her blog, I am looking at this issue in a different light now though. 🙂
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Unfortunately the Gunna syndrome affects us all at times,sometimes its good to look back and see a few Gunnas completed.
My kids always told me what they were Gunna do when they grew up.
I told them, dont tell me what you are Gunna do, tell me what you did.
Keep smiling
Ian
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I guess you have to have the gun as to begin your dreams right?
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