If you really knew me, you would know my hobby of choice is knitting. I’ve talked about it here and here and here.
But last year, for some reason, I lost my knitting mojo and completed only two projects: a pair of socks and a tank top. I usually finish double or even triple that amount in a year.
Every time I look at someone running a marathon, I always wonder what’s going on inside their heads as their feet eat up kilometer after kilometer.
So here’s what’s going on inside my head as I whip up stitch after stitch:
I think about quitting and failure because of this article.
I think about my body’s aches and pains—something newly discovered in midlife, after a lifetime of it fully functioning and giving me very little problems. And I realize it’s crying out because of neglect and putting its needs last.
I think about the books I’ve read recently (I love this) and the weekend that just was (where I escaped with my giant immediate family to a farm in Pampanga).
I think about my Startup Shawl (pictured). It’s a shawl I made a few years ago where I took three skeins of yarn meant for another project and started knitting. No pattern. I made stripes when I wanted. I added little lace details where I thought it would look pretty. I incorporated little purl bumps when I was getting bored. And when I ran out of yarn, I looked at the scraps I had left and used those.
Yes, there was the possibility of failure, that the shawl I started would end up looking ugly and that I would have “wasted” hundreds of hours (yes, that’s how long a hand-knitted project takes). But it didn’t.
No plan. Just joy. And it ended up being one of my most favorite projects ever.
How about you? What goes on inside your head when you’re doing something you love?
