I had been staring at this hoop on my coffee table, unfinished, for weeks. Sometimes you just can't bring yourself to do the thing - however small it is, however simple it would be to just finish it, however trivial it might be in the long-term. Your thing could be an embroidery project you can't seem to finish, a voice mail you haven't had the energy to listen to, or maybe it's modifying old Instagram posts into blog posts so your advice is more easily searchable (these examples are all self-burns).
Honestly, I could have dumped this in my "to never complete or look at again" box (having that box has certainly been great creative self-care for me), but I wanted to finish it because I needed this message hanging on my wall, reminding me that I can do the things I need or want to do, even if I'm embarrassed that I haven't done them yet.
When I get messages from strangers on the internet, they often go something like this:
"I've been following embroidery accounts on social media for years, but I'm too afraid to get started because what if I'm not good?"
"I bought embroidery supplies a year ago and I'm so embarrassed I haven't given it a try yet that I'm about five minutes away from just tossing them all out."
"I finally started creating items I'm proud of, but I'm too nervous to post them on social and put myself out there."
Y'all, I get that. I had been scrolling the internet for a while before I ever picked up a needle; I let my tiny box of initial supplies gather dust under my bed for even longer; and when I started posting what I had made, I wasn't sure if any of my friends or family would care that after years and years - I had finally finished something.
Given this hoop is literally an example of my on-again/off-again ability to push myself to do small things, it's clear that practicing and sharing embroidery hasn't necessarily 100% cured me of all of the anxieties and fears that go along with doing those small things. That said, it absolutely has given me more confidence. I may look at this hoop and think, "yes, I can finish that project I've been working on," but I may also look at it and think, "that voice mail isn't actually so scary," or "why don't I go ahead and start that blog, even though it's taken me a while to get it going?"
I want you to know that I believe you can do the thing, too, whatever that thing happens to be. And if that thing isn't really worth your time, I recommend you throw it in your own "to never complete or look at again" box to make room in your life for the things you'd prefer to be doing.
If embroidery is the thing you've been meaning to try, I've got loads of kits for you to try, as well as free tutorials on YouTube and Instagram.
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