Crafting and Coping

Perhaps you have had something happen in your life. We all have, this is part of being human. Challenges in life help to create the beautiful person you are. Life lessons teach us how to deal with hardships, and for some of this we teach these lessons to our friends, loved ones or perhaps that stranger in need of some human compassion and love. So here I will share one of my life lessons. I am actually currently reading a fictional book called The Knitting Circle. This book, although fictional holds several things. One of the things is that knitting (insert your craft here) can carry us through the roughest of times in our life. I am also a certified Yoga teacher. Yoga teaches alot about meditation and non-attatchment. Knitting is meditative and helps with non- attatchment. I cannot tell you how many times I have spent hours knitting something only to have to rip the whole thing apart (us knitters call this frogging) and start over again. Hours of work, gone in minutes~this is what happens when you're self taught~ but it teaches you how to let go, or in the words of the Beetles, Let it be.

So, several years ago when I hit that point in my life where disappointment loomed on a monthly basis and my life was thrown into complete chaos, I turned to my knitting and yoga to help me cope. I will share with you here that I was inducted into what I think of as a "secret society" - I'll spill the beans here, those of us who are, as they say, "fertility challenged". I never understood, and still can't why no one wants to talk about it. But what I have found is that when I tell someone my story usually they will say, "I went through something similar." I then (and still to this day) knit like a fiend. If I'm sitting, I'm knitting. Sometimes I'm standing and knitting. Because when I knit, all I hear in my head is a soft voice saying, knit, knit, knit, pearl, pearl. This my friends, brings comfort, well being, and most importantly, peace. Now don't get me wrong it took me awhile to get to this point, and I credit 2 awesome women and a wonderfully supportive and loving husband with helping me. Most importantly my yoga teacher Jaime. She believed in me when no one else would. She gave me a mantra that I personally feel saved my life and sanity. It lifted me out of the ditch I was in. My point here is that I incorporated all of these things together, collectively, and my craft continues to serve me well. I'm still learning to let it go, ( I can finally take an advil mid cycle and not stress about it affecting my cycle).

Mine is just one story of life, my belief is that we all have something challenging that has happen to us. Find you craft, find your moment of peace and let it go.