Julian Odessa gives words of wisdom on how to flourish when stitching or in life, this time encouraging us to remember to be kind to ourselves
Hullo! Have you had the feeling of being really stressed, but you couldn’t put your finger on why? I was talking to a friend about feeling this way, and she lovingly pointed out that I was being more critical of myself than I am with anyone else and that perhaps this wasn’t a kind choice. Boom, reality right to the jaw. I try to be supportive to those around me, but seems I’d been leaving myself off that list!
In the whirlwind of daily pressures and societal expectations, it's easy to neglect the most important person in our lives: ourselves. We readily offer understanding to others, yet when it comes to ourselves, a harsh inner critic often takes over. But, as the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Seems I didn’t realise my cup was getting empty until I found myself overwhelmed, sitting up late at night rushing to finish a piece of stitching to be gifted the following day (I’m not the only one doing that, right?), thinking “it’d be done by now if you’d just X, Y, or Z!”.
We don’t do better by giving ourselves a harsh talking-to – if that worked, we’d be happy and productive all the time! There are reasons behind behaviours; once we understand ‘why’, we can better edit our behaviour. For me, I realised I’d taken on too much work. When I say yes to things, I want to do a good job, but I’ve been pouring my
