The Personal Growth Benefits of DIY Renovations

DIY renovations are a financial necessity for many of us, especially in this tough economic climate. Doing your own repairs and home improvements not only saves money but also adds to the value of a home. I have come to realize, however, that there are many ways in which DIY can make you a better person. Here’s how:

Increased Strength and Stamina

While it would be ridiculous to claim that renovations work is kind to the body, it does bestow some benefits. Hours spent sanding plaster, driving screws or pulling nails will make you physically stronger and give you the kind of stamina that an hour-long treadmill session can never provide. Renovation work burns calories too! The trick is to avoid rewarding yourself with fatty treats after a work session.

In an age where so many spend their free time on the couch, there’s a lot to be said for getting up and just plain moving about, even if you’re not running a marathon. The most important thing is to not push yourself to the point of injury: take your time, use correct body positioning, and if you’re too tired to maintain good form, quit for the day.

Increased Research Skills and Knowledge

I’ve always believed that education – of any kind – is never wasted. Expanding your horizons in a new direction will help provide new perspectives on things you thought you already knew. Every piece of learning helps you to learn other new things more easily.

I tend to bite off more than I can chew, but at least I’m sensible enough to know when I’m out of my depth. That’s the time to sit down and do some research – go online, read books, and talk to others with more experience than I have. Going through this so many times has made me better at learning new things.

Increased Planning Skills

All renovation work involves project management, which is a skill that everyone needs. Having to sit down, visualize the end result, and then break that down into parts will allow you to create a logical task order. Exercising this kind of thinking will help you no matter what your line of work is.

Increased Patience, Perseverance, and Emotional Control

One of the greatest benefits I’ve found in learning to do renovation work is an increased capacity for patience with myself. We aren’t born with construction or design skills; they must be learned, practiced and perfected. This takes time, persistent effort, and patience.

Like many DIYers, I have run into situations where I’ve had to face the fact that I’ve messed up. That sinking “oh no” feeling you get when you realize that you have to undo all of your hard work and fix it is very difficult to face. Familiarity with the occasional slip up is humbling in a very healthy way. You learn to cool your frustration and develop the ability to admit your mistakes. After all, the more quickly you do that the sooner you can get on with making it the way it should be.

Frustration can also make you want to throw up your hands and give up, perhaps spending a lot of money to hire someone who can do it properly. Going through the process of figuring out where you went wrong, pulling everything apart, and redoing it forces you to let go and forgive yourself. Sticking with the project through the tough times builds a depth of character that may be unfashionable, but I think is essential.

These mistakes also help keep your ego in check when things go flawlessly. When the work goes off without a hitch, it prevents you from bragging to anyone who will listen. While honest pride in a job well done is a boon to your confidence, I’ve seen some people who turn into utter snobs, dismissing anyone who isn’t at their level of expertise. As one of my math teachers once said to a group of his A-students, “let it go to your heart, not to your head”.

Appreciation for the Skills of Others and for Quality Craftsmanship

As you go through the baby steps of learning new skills, you develop an understanding of just how good experienced renovators and professionals are at what they do. When you spend an hour trying to plaster a drywall seam, you gain a new appreciation for those out there who can do it better than you do in a fraction of the time. My recent experiences in plastering were punctuated with a humbling look at a couple of videos by one of my Obi Wan Kenobis of plastering, mudslingpro, in which he makes it look so easy. The only way to gain this level of skill is practise.

Because I now know first-hand the struggle of trying to work bubbles and ridges out of the mud, I can honestly say I will never look at a wall or ceiling the same way again!

Spiritual Growth

A long renovation project can be like a mythic journey through the underworld. When a renovation is long and taxing, and you feel you can’t even look at your work area any more, that’s when you really learn what you’re made of. You face your limits and somehow push them back just a little bit every time, gradually becoming more than you were.

Even a single work day can be an emotional death and rebirth. After a long work session, when you’re exhausted and covered in dirt, you are like an incarnation of utter wretchedness. Everything is sore, you’re thirsty and miserable, but somehow you keep going. Somehow, you even enjoy it, and even laugh at what a pathetic creature you are.

And then, redemption: you can shower at last! No simple hygiene exercise; it is as though the heavens open to let the water fall. You emerge clean, reborn, and looking at the world through new eyes.

You can’t pay for an experience like that; it must be earned. But once you have it, no one can ever take it away from you.

by Jennifer Priest
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