When I tell people about my various craft projects - weaving, embroidery, cross-stitch - they're always like: 'You must have so much patience!'
But here's the thing - I don't.
I am so impatient. I want things done yesterday, preferrably in triplicate and wrapped with a bow.
No, I don't have any patience...
What I have is the ability to see the progress of the piece - however slow that progress may be.
Seeing it creeping into a mode of 'becoming' lets you know you're on the right track.
What I have is the faith that it'll all turn out alright, in the end.
Probably not in exactly the way I thought it would be, but most likely the way it was meant to be.
My craft projects have a way of evolving as they go into something different, but no less 'good,' than what I was originally aiming for (assuming I had a destination in mind at all.)
I have a belief in my own abilities at the craft.
I know that even if I 'mess up,' it's probably fixable.
And even if it's not, even if this piece goes entirely wrong, it's not a reflection of my crafting abilities as a whole.
...I wish I had the same steadfast belief in my writing abilities.
Writing - which I've been doing for as long as I can remember, that's as vital to me as breathing - isn't something I have the same confidence in.
It's going to take some time, but I'm trying to build up that belief.
To know that it doesn't matter if the thing I'm working on is moving slowly - that, just like in cross-stitch, you build it up.
And all those lines and colour-blocks work their way outwards until they turn into something beautiful, something so much greater than the sum of their parts.
I need to enjoy the build-up, the same way I admire the progress of my stitches across a piece of fabric.
I need to trust in the motions and patterning, like I do when I'm weaving.
If you rummage around in writing advice on the web, even on a casual basis, you'll find a lot of stuff about 'the craft' -
which makes it sound like there's a lot of pentagrams involved - not that I'm judging: if that's how you like to write then you do you
- and while that advice is often excellent (and as always, if it works for you go for it,) I think a lot of the time it forgets what craft is.
The craft is the making - not the tools.
It doesn't matter if you have the best tools and all the know-how needed, if you rush to use them instead of taking your time and working steadily, either something's gonna break or you're gonna hurt yourself.
(As someone who's had more than a few sewing needle slip-ups, trust me on this!)
Work steady, work efficiently, but don't rush yourself.
It'll be done when it's done, and not before.
Do you think it's important to not rush things?
Is it more a case of belief than patience?
Talk to me! 😀💬
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I am very deep into writing my major research paper right now, and I think I need reminding that this thing will turn out alright in the end. The editing process has been rough, not gonna lie, because I do feel like rushing things and just moving on to the: "it's perfect" part. But I need to understand that this thing doesn't only take time, but it also takes a little bit of confidence too. Great post, Cee!
ReplyDeleteThanks Em! :)
DeleteAnd don't worry too much about 'perfect' (I know, I know, easier said than done,) - concentrate more on letting it become what it's supposed to be.
(...this is your regular reminder that I was raised by hippies! Lol.)