And watch out what you ask for… Issue: fear of stitching…or anything else, for that matter! Recently I’ve had some issues around procrastination paralyzation – the wanting to get up and do something but not getting around to it, for whatever the thing to do, there is always some sort of procrastination technique that I can use to avoid it! So I decided to do a little bit of talking to the monster in charge of holding me back to see what I could do about it… This doesn’t’ directly relate to my stitching or dancing, except that my stitching and dancing was suffering because of it.
I started asking myself, “so what’s holding me back? Time? no. Money? no. Fear? ah. there’s the little monster hiding in the corner. Come on out, little guy! I’m not going to tell you to go away! M-Monster, R-Romilly.
A little fuzzy red critter slowly crawls out of the shadows… Wow he’s tiny, but boy does he have long legs!
M – Y’y’you’re not?
R – Nope – you’ve got as much right to be here as I do, and you, I’m guessing, don’t want me – us – to get hurt!
M – NO! I don’t! We need to be safe and happy!
R – But when I’m scared all the time, I’m definitely not happy! And I don’t FEEL safe! Besides. It’s lonely.
M – But you’ve got your sister, and the EO, and the cats… Why can’t you be happy hiding where no one bad can hurt you?
R – Because then I miss all the fun – remember the dune buggy rides in kindergarten?
M – No. We didn’t go on any.
R – I know – because we were scared it wouldn’t be as fun as swimming – that we’d waste a day.
M – Ummmmmm…
R – Remember when we got to go in our teens?
M – Yeah – it was fun, but we thought it was probably more fun at 5 years old and in the desert, not on suburban streets in Seattle.
R – Right.
M- But what about mean people?
R – You mean people who will tell me I can’t write and my designs are icky and too expensive?
M – YEAH!
R – Remember how you said we’ve got all those people and the cats? We’ve also got a bunch of other friends…
M – ?!
R – They’ll all tell us we don’t stink, and remind us that we’re loved!
M – But mean words hurt!
R – Yeah, they hurt, but so did running into that car when we were learning to ride a bike — but how fun was the wind in our faces when we got it down? Worth it?
M – WAY worth it!!! WHEEEEEE!!! Bike Riding! YAY!
R – So maybe if we thought of show day as Ride day?
M – Around Green Lake!!!! really really fast! ZZOOOM!!!
R – If we’re going to do that, I need to tune up the bike so we can stay safe.
M – Um… okay? What’s the bike?
R – That would be the book that needs edited and illustrated. And the webpage for it, so you can have a bike, too.
M – Oh. OK. You tune up the bikes and I’ll pack a picnic. With cookies! Whee!!!
Little monster is suddenly running around the room playing airplane. I’m a bit worried that the picnic will consist of JUST cookies! but we’re off!
Notes:
Yes. I’m writing a book. You’d think that a professional technical writer wouldn’t fret about this, but I am. I’m trying to take the fear out designing or adapting needlework designs for your own purposes. If you’re interested in updates on the status, I’ll be adding those to the newsletter, as well as some preview information as I get going. And you’ll get the 5-part creativity in cross stitch class as well for signing up! Sign up in the sidebar, or click for a bigger sign up form!
The technique is adapted from something Havi Brooks does every so often when she talks to her monsters.
If you’re interested in talking to your monsters, you might look at Havi’s Monster Coloring book, too. (yes, this is an affiliate link: but if you don’t want me to get a commission on it, you can get there from the link on her name in the last paragraph, too!)
Hugs for your and your Monster 🙂