Forget Resolutions, I’m Picking a Word.

In years past, I’ve sometimes made New Year’s resolutions and sometimes not; but as noble as the idea sounds, I’ve always felt they are rather pointless because they just wind up being a source of disappointment by highlighting a person’s shortcomings in the end.

That’s depressing.

I found this article about skipping New Year’s resolutions and simply choosing a word for the coming year.  It can be anything – noun, verb, adjective – just one word.

I have to say I really like this idea – it’s the opposite of depressing!

I think picking a word for the year could be an optimistic, uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, and (dare I hope?) motivating thing.  All the things that people wish for in a resolution.

I cannot fail at a word because it’s just a word.

A word can have multiple meanings, and allow for more thinking outside the box, compared to a resolution.

It could be fun to discover new ways to define a word in relation to your everyday life.

After much pondering, I have chosen a verb as my word, mainly because I feel the need to be active somehow.  My word for 2013 is Create.   It has a number of meanings and its origin (creatus) is related to the word crescere which means “arise, grow”.

I’m sure I will become aware of many ways Create applies to my life during my daily routine throughout the coming year.  I can’t fall short and I won’t forget my word by the middle of February.  =)

Feel free to join me in choosing a word for 2013, whether it’s Create or another word that speaks to you.  (And if you do, please share your word in the comments!)

Happy New Year!

For Those Who Love To Sew

Recently, I’ve been enjoying some random blog surfing and finding some interesting new blogs to follow. I’ve been inspired by many and glad to see so many others learning to sew or improving their skills.

The common theme right now seems to be people questioning their abilities and/or idiosyncrasies.

So here’s a little encouragement for all my fellow stitchers, seamstresses, costumers, sewists, seamsters, and crafters:

• Remember: you can’t will inspiration and you can’t force creativity (those who knew me in high school will recall this was one of “Brooke’s Rules”)
• You will always be your own worst critic.
• Being a perfectionist is how artist types are wired – trust me, it’s a normal side-effect of a creative brain, and I’ve never met a crafty person in the professional world who isn’t a perfectionist in some way. You aren’t weird. =)
• There will always be at least one little thing you wish you had time to do or fix when you have a deadline (even if it’s a self-imposed deadline!).
• There will almost always be a never-ending pile of unfinished projects and you will always want to add new projects to your list.
• When you get frustrated with a difficult project, put it down and walk away for a while.
• Everyone who sews, no matter how experienced, will need encouragement to stick with it periodically – being creative is HARD!
• You will learn at least one thing from every person you work with and from every project you do.
• There will always be those people who just don’t understand your need to create (but never forget there are plenty of others who completely get it!).

May your scissors always be sharp and all your thread stay tangle-free! Happy sewing & crafting!

And here’s a video I found inspiring, hope you do too: