Just when it feels as if the darkness will last forever…and hopelessness winds its thready fingers through your mind, and weakens the steady drum of your heart…for just the briefest of moments, the clouds shift and a ray of sunshine pierces the deep abyss.
Bask in it.
A glimpse. A glimmer. A drop in the bucket that disturbs the monotony of endless days, unending sorrow, your fiercest rage. Whatever that gentle whisper of peace is in your mind, whatever that flash of light in the darkness of your personal despair…GRASP IT. Just like the darkness, the light belongs to you too.
It is also yours, a tool in your menagerie. Your ability to choose your happy might be the strongest weapon you have if only you could learn to summon it at will; the hammer to your inner Thor, the arrow to your inner Catti-brie. While I can’t claim credit for those characters or their heroic deeds…I will advise you thus: whatever it is that summons the proverbial champion to rally within your soul…it is yours.
Crafting is my candle in the dusk.
Today, it was a tough day at work. Too many tasks to do…not enough hands to do them, not enough time to get them done…not enough brain space to balance all the plates spinning at one time. Ever have one of those days? Where you feel like a circus act, spinning plates on poles, running back and forth and waiting for the first one to crash? Fearing the cacophony that is sure to follow?
Then…then comes the “after” work. Coming home, and being too mentally drained to do more than collapse on the couch; exhausted, but unwilling to go to bed for dreading the rat race beginning the next day. Chaotic monotony, lol. Mind feeling like a hamster wheel…so full of thoughts that can’t be silenced.
Today was one of those days for me. Exhausted but restless; body tired, mind wide awake but aimless. I felt my eyes roaming through my den, searching for something, anything…until my attention was snared. My cat had discovered one of my balls of yarn, and it was like the universe stilled for just a moment. I dragged myself from the couch, picked the yarn up off the floor, and the texture of it sliding between my fingers mesmerized me.
your craft belongs to you.
When you find something that brings you peace, hold on to it. Explore it. Spend time learning about it, and becoming a champion of it. Share it with other people, that the joy may multiply.
I picked the yarn up off the floor. I grinned a silly grin as I wrestled with my cat to get it away from her. I picked up my crochet needle, crocheted a long chain, and then sat in the floor and played tug of war with that feisty feline for the next thirty minutes.
That crochet chain served no purpose. It was not intended to be part of a bigger project. It wasn’t a conscious thought at all…just a bit of whimsy.
Who says that creating something with the power of your mind and the touch of your fingers has to be art to anyone but YOU?
Who made you believe you couldn't?
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it at least a dozen times:
Oh, how I wish I could do that! How I wish I could do the things you do!
Who told you that you can’t? Have you tried?
A baby can’t walk fresh from the womb; can’t speak, can’t read or write, or do arithmetic. A baby has to LEARN. There is no shame in admitting that you don’t know HOW to do something you’ve never been taught to do. That’s a harsh standard to hold yourself to…and here at The Crafter’s Vow, we actively encourage you to push the envelope of what you think you can achieve.
We do it to ourselves all the time.
our challenge to you:
Your challenge this week is simple…find something you don’t know how to do that intrigues you. Find something that you would dearly love to learn how to do…and read an article on it.
Hah! You thought I was going to tell you that you had to rush right out and do the thing!
There is no shame in starting small. There is no one here at The Crafter’s Vow who will make fun of you for taking your first baby step. We are reaching out our hands…ready to lead you on your way.
Are you ready?
I love this. It made me smile and realize how much you need to enjoy the little things you may not usually even think about. Thank you for this!!!