I have found “giving up” to be really hard work and terribly difficult to achieve.
I am not making light of the desire, just the opposite. The desire is often very intense, but giving up seems to simply be much harder than finding joy or purpose. When joy seems elusive, I look for purpose. Purpose usually leads me to joy.
Whether we are a tortoise or a hare, the journey can be better if we travel together.
Simplistic, yes I know, but true in most cases when the parties are willing to embrace each other’s weaknesses as well as each other’s strengths.
Choosing our companions wisely is certainly key to success. Also key to success is recognizing our traveling companion today may not be our companion for the entire journey.
Seldom is the journey, or life, a smooth, straight path. Even when we know where we want to go, and have a map to guide us, we will encounter obstacles that may cause us to detour seeking an uncharted way to our destination.
Having trusted companions can help us navigate the detours; and if we should get lost, those companions will prevent us from feeling the despair of solitude.
Today I did something a quite different. Not only do I share my age, my educational background, and a good deal of my upbringing, I also share my emotional response to the realities we face as a crafting community in light of constricting markets, borders, and liberties.
I did not get “political” even if some may think I did. I went historical, and I shared how my close connection with my grandparents has helped me through past difficulties, and how I hope it will help me through the ones we face now.
I also talk about Tour de Fleece at the end 
Will the words fail me? Will the joy fade away? Or will I once again find a path forward?
Despite today being the anniversary of one of the happiest days of my mother’s heart, I awoke with a dread similar to one I have had before. Only this time the dread was deeper and more weighty. It is one thing for the hopeful to follow the path to sorrow when the path is shrouded and obscured. Yet, when the light shines brightly on the path, illuminating the danger signs in glaring clarity, it is a dreaded thing to witness.
I seek joy through creative pursuits, and I seek to share that joy with others. It is my hope that in some small way I can inspire others to seek their own joy.
In my efforts, whether through blog or vlog, I try my best to focus on the universal language of joy. Today, in the light of so much chaos, I finally feel the unshakable need to be clear about something I believe many (or at least those closely following) will have discerned. I use the word joy with great understanding that it is a word intertwined Christ.
I use it as a synonym for Christ, and for love, and for grace.
I view it as an eternal condition – this joy of which I speak, and I see it as being a common language.
I believe it is a condition and a language that supersedes the religions of man. For all of mankind can experience it, and seek it, and receive it regardless of the customs they follow.
I use JOY for this very reason – it bridges the gaps of culture. For while I connect it to Christ, others need not do so if that is their choice. It doesn’t change the eternal and universal nature of it.
Sorrow has gripped me, has made my heart weep, but I will cling to my quest for joy – and in doing so, I will hopefully be able to continue to have something to blog and vlog about.
A charted path can help us get to where we want to go, and it can provide us a sense of control in a chaotic world. Yet, there is something to be said for occasionally leaving the charted path and bravely taking an unplanned journey into the unknown.
With the completion of my dedicated sewing-crafting room (notwithstanding the need of a fresh coat of wall and ceiling paint), I find myself recognizing a shift has occurred. While I don’t believe the sewing room is the catalyst of this change, I do think it symbolizes the change that has occurred within me.
It is as I begin to really use this dedicated space, a space that brings me joy and comfort, I realize more fully that I have changed.
Change doesn’t usually happen overnight, but sometimes the awakening to the change does feel abrupt. We go to bed one night only to wake up the next morning to realize the journey we’ve been on has led us to our destination. What then, we ask ourselves? Do we meticulously map our a new destination, or do we allow ourselves the freedom of following an uncharted path, even if only for a short while?
In a world were the pressure for perfection is ever present, the quest for success can overwhelm us, thus causing our creative mojo to get lost somewhere along the journey. This is often the case when we are creating to meet the demand of others, but it can also be the case when we are creating for ourselves. The scale we use to measure success, sadly, is seldom one we create ourselves, thereby placing us at the risk of becoming overwhelmed when our efforts fall short of an unrealistic norm.
As creators, or makers to use another term commonly used in social media, we rely on our creative mojo to keep our inspiration flowing and our ideas vibrant. Our ability to keep creating often relies heavily on our feelings of accomplishment, and therefore how we determine success is instrumental in our ability to create.
In my video today, I ponder the notion of success and the question of whether my latest project is a success. I determine success is achieved when three criteria are met – functionality, structural-soundness, and joy. We are makers not machines. Variables in our creative efforts are part of what makes our product unique and desirable. When we hold onto this knowledge, we can better keep hold of our mojo even as we pursue success.
In quilting, much like in life, the path we travel often lacks complexity; a routine can be followed that will keep us on course. Other times, we need help a map can offer. This week’s English Paper Piecing block, Morning Frost, reflects the complexity that has settled into my life this season. On the surface, it looks simple. Yet without the map guiding me, the subtle differences threatened to trip me up and make the task more difficult than necessary. Taking the time to make a map, or a set of steps to follow, preserved the easy and joy of the journey.
Also, be sure to check out this week’s podcast to hear more about the Christmas Tree Saga of 2023 and more.
Imperfection fades away, replaced by snuggly comfort.
In the crafting world, the stress created by seeking perfection is offset by a simple 3-foot rule. Whatever is not noticeable from 3 feet away should not cause the maker angst. While this rule is not always as effective as one might hope, when it comes to quilting, there is an additional rule that usually covers all but the most egregious flaws. The comfort rule.
If the quilt provides comfort, then the quilt needs only be structurally sound to be perfect.
Sometimes in life, we lose perspective, focusing too much on imperfections rather than on purpose.
“What is the purpose of what we do?” “What is the goal we hope to achieve?”
There will always be situations where perfection must be the purpose, but those situations rarely extend beyond life-saving, safety-critical, or technology-focused tasks. In most cases, seeking perfection is a goal but not the purpose of the endeavor.
When we focus the purpose of our task, imperfections fade away to be replaced by the comfort a good perspective on life provides.
Change is unavoidable and sometimes very painful. It can also open us to opportunities we may otherwise never have seen had the change not occurred. However change, especially when it is a mighty life change, can bring on a sense of loss, even a sense of mourning for that which we had or for whom we were before the change occurred.
Mourning a loss is never an easy process, and it is seldom a speedy one. Permitting oneself the time and space to mourn is not merely important, it is vital.
Simple steps each day can help us through both the change and the loss we might feel because of the change, but sometimes even simple steps can feel overwhelming.
Sometimes we need the quiet that solitude provides us. Sometimes we need space – the space to process, to mourn, and to adjust. Other times we need companionship.
One of life’s greatest lessons is learning how to move each day – physically and mentally move each and every day. When we stop moving, we stop life.
Sometimes, no matter how strong willed we are, we need help moving. Just like when we seek physical therapy after an injury or severe illness has made our body struggle, we may need to seek help when it is our mental or spiritual health that is struggling. Seeking help and acquiring help may also require us to experience more change, but this change might be one of the most valuable aids to helping us through the bigger life change which is causing us so much struggle.
We must find a way to keep on keeping on. To keep on living, and to keep on looking for those opportunities that now might be more clearly seen because of a mighty life change.
I will vlog again, and probably sooner than later. This is just breathing time.
What do we seek on this journey or from this experience? Taking time to ask this question of ourselves affords us the opportunity to understand the answer despite any excitement or anxiety we might feel.
Do we hope to learn something? Connect with someone? Are we planning to challenge ourselves, or are we simply hoping to embrace the joy of the experience? Maybe there is a bit of all of this in our plans. However, it is not just the meandering, spur-of-the-moment journey that includes unforeseen excitement or anxiety. We can become frustrated or even lose our way if we have not taken the time to understand what we are seeking.
When this thought first began swirling around my head, I was contemplating the way personal relationships can devolve. A brief conversation with a stranger had left me troubled. The stranger had conveyed how difficult they were struggling now that they were the guardian of their young grandchild. Their struggle was one of lost hope, as much as one of real challenge. Their expectations of this new, full-time relationship was fraught with the dread of knowing life was going to be forever changed, and was going to be quite difficult due to the child’s very specific struggles.
I was troubled by the lack of hope the stranger shared. Many hours later, this thought came to mind.
What do we seek in our personal relationships? What do we hope to learn or experience?
While we may not be able to change the specific elements of human existence that make life hard, sometimes so hard we struggle to see a way forward, we are able to reimagine our expectations. Sometimes this can be achieved by simply identifying what it is we truly seek from the situation or the relationship. Often we are counseled to changed our perspective, but first we might be wise in understanding what it is we seek. From that understanding, our perspective, or in other words, our vantage point might become clear. We might even discover that our frustration is not from the challenges we face in this new journey, but simply from having become lost in the fog before reaching the summit.
Pithy Ponderings 