You see and hear the acronym "DIY" everywhere, and you probably already know what it stands for: "do it yourself." It's a pretty straightforward-sounding concept. But "DIY" might conjure up totally different images for different people, because really, it can be about so many things.
Basically, DIY means that, instead of hiring a professional to do a particular task — or, instead of buying goods from a store or an artisan — you're choosing to do that task or create those products yourself with no direct help from an expert. That doesn't mean you can't turn to resources for help — if you use a YouTube tutorial, or a book or blog post to find directions or get your project on the right track, it still counts as doing it yourself. DIY is really about you seeking out the knowledge and developing the skills you need to do something that you would normally pay someone else to do for you.
Understandably, the "DIY" label gets added to a lot of projects, and basically, everything from patching a hole in a wall yourself to making your own bath bombs (or even kids' slime!) counts as a DIY project. And DIY goes beyond that, since it can also be applied to things like cutting your own hair, sewing your own clothes, decorating a cake, managing your own investments, and so much more.
Scroll through the #DIY hashtag on Instagram, and you'll see just about everything you can imagine. Since pretty much anything can fall under the DIY umbrella, it makes sense that it means different things to different people — even if, overall, the definition doesn't really change.
Personally, when I think about DIY projects, my mind goes to home improvement tasks. Things like painting, installing carpet, building furniture, putting up shelves, repairing things that need maintenance — that's where my brain goes. But, I'm also an avid crafter. To me, arts and crafts fall under the DIY umbrella for sure, but I think of that as "crafting" — at least, that's the word that makes me think of the kind of projects I do. These two definitions of "DIY" seem to be the most common, so, now it's your turn to share what you think it means:
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