Zen and the Art of Sanding

Ways in Which Sanding is a Lot Like Therapy:

1. It is difficult to know where to start.  This keeps a lot of people from starting.
2. Once you start,  you pretty much have to keep going.   This, too, keeps a lot of people from starting.
3. Much of the work is repetitive and tedious, and--not to put too fine a point on it: boring.
4. It is often difficult to see that you are making progress, especially at the beginning.
5. You can lay down plastic, and crank up fans, but no matter how hard you try, the detritus of the work will spill over into other areas.
6. Friends and family members may not understand what the hell you are doing.
7. It can get very ugly for awhile.
8. Some of what comes off may be toxic; it is good to take precautions that you don't breath any of that crap back into your body.  
9. The old stuff you peel off served a purpose, once upon a time; it is okay to salute it as it goes.
10. The more layers of stuff you have to work through, the longer it will take.
11. The older the stuff, the harder to get shed of it.
12. The reclaimed wood/self under all that gunk is really amazing, and is a good motivator to keep going. 
13. You can scream, sing out, talk to yourself  or make guttural piggy noises and it won't matter.  In therapy, it is expected; in sanding no one can hear you scream.
14. You can only work a session for so long before you need a break.
15. Be satisfied in the day's work, no matter how far it seems from your goal.
16. It is better to focus on what you have done and keep working to clean that up, than to look at the work stretched out ahead of you whose surface has yet to be scratched.
17. Alcohol and other mind-altering chemicals do not mix well with either sanding or therapy.
18. Once you get the old stuff off, you will want to put new stuff in its place.
19. Sanding, like therapy, is a process.  
20. Trust the process. 

Ways in which Sanding is NOT Like Therapy:

1. No one will ever, not in a million-jillion years, ask you to journal about sanding.