Trying new things.
We do it all the time whether we realize it or not. It can be with foods, TV Shows, even hobbies. We spice up our lives every once in a while and try something new. Social Media, in my opinion, has caused more people to step out and try things they never would have because they saw someone else doing it on Tik Tok or Pinterest. As fun as these DIY crafts and projects look, they don't always come out right the first go around, unless you have the gift of crafting coursing through your veins (Looking at you Mary). People have photographed and recorded these failures so much, there are shows and Youtube channels dedicated to failed DIY projects.
As funny as that is, it can be really disheartening to try your best at something and come up short. I myself have been trying something new. Calligraphy. I'd spend so much time watching clips on Tik Tok, it looked simple enough. I grabbed a calligraphy book from Barnes and Noble and got to it. The first five pages were the instructions, followed by practice pages and fonts to try. Skipping the instructions, I went straight to the fun part. When I had to outline the letters already shadowed on the page, it was easy. My writing came out beautiful and I thought I was nailing it. Once I hit the free hand stage, it didn't look quite the same. I was very unaware of how hard it was to write an S, until I tried and retried to do it fifteen times. The curve would be too high or too wide or too slanted.
"It's just an S, it shouldn't be this hard!"
Eventually, I had to walk away because I was getting too frustrated with it. Before long, I started stressing myself out by overthinking on my failure.
It's just writing. It's one of the first things you learn in school. I'm a writer, how can I be bad at writing?! Who in the world invented the S anyways?!
After questioning the meaning of letters and rethinking my writing career for a while, I got to thinking. Maybe there's something in the instructions to help with this. They're there for a reason after all. I found a lot of helpful hints for beginners and great tools to help you become more fluent with your movements, making the letters flow together. Reading the author's notes gave me a better idea of how to start out and work my way forward. The S was still challenging, but instead of exhausting my own solutions, I had a few tips to get me by while I practiced my calligraphy.
If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know that I tend to find topics for my blog based on events that take place throughout my week that I reflect on. This week has been pretty anxiety driven with company in town, all of the running around that comes with it, and going from a two car household to one. With all of the driving, visiting, and energy being poured out this week, I found myself drained emotionally and physically. A lot of households only have one car, it can't be that hard to accommodate, could it?! It's been quite the struggle for me and I wasn't really sure how to pace myself while attempting to be readily available to chauffeur my husband around. It was something new for me and I found that I wasn't very good at it.
Adjustments in life take time and patience to get used to or to be good at. It's never a one and done thing, and sometimes, we need to stop and focus our mindset on the next step instead of all of the steps involved in the process. In a sense, we need to quit struggling to figure it out on our own and read the instructions one bullet point at a time. While we go done the list, we also need to remember to grant ourselves and others grace as we're learning throughout the different seasons of life. Life isn't as straight cut as calligraphy or a DIY project, but taking it one step or one moment at a time can make the difference between being a stress case and living in a sense of peace.
That's all from me this week! Have a blessed rest of your week and I'll catch you next time!
Magnificent ! Another Wonderful post !