So, Saturday, Bonnie and I are at a craft show, talking about where we are in relationship to our website, our business, and what the future looks like. We were both realizing there has been a lack of momentum in what we have been up to. I realized I had not written a blog for awhile, I had unfinished projects that I had high hopes to post and create patterns, and overall, I was feeling, well, uninspired. Bonnie and I came to the conclusion that we were face to face with what we termed as “the dip”.
The Dip is a phenomenon that we all experience at times when we have low energy in creativity, inspiration, and a of feeling being discouraged about our progress. The Dip is something I want to fight, ignore, and hide from because I relate to it as “I’m failing”-ugh. These are the 2 words that I dread, fear, and run in the other direction to avoid. So as I’m standing in the pit of despair ready to give up or minimize what I’m really inspired by, it occurs to me that “I’m failing” might not be my arch enemy. My nemesis is being attached to “perfection” or “getting it right”, which doesn’t give me any room to be creative or inspired. So maybe failing does?
Ok- so, hear this out…failing means I’ve at least tried. I’ve put myself out there to learn something new, to ask for help, and maybe look a little silly or feel embarrassed. About 2 weeks ago, I realized that I had taught myself 2 crochet stitches the wrong way and have felt so silly that I have a website for people to learn how to crochet, and I have been doing basic stitches wrong! Even as I write this, my heart still races… So after I had some time to wallow in my humiliation (and really, it was just me and my humiliation, not a 6 o’clock newsbreak that shattered the world) I realized how small this oversight was. It didn’t cause world hunger, or start a war. I realized I had to lighten up a little and laugh at the insignificance of it. I take myself too seriously and miss out on the fun- I was sucking the fun out of my creativity. As I looked at all of the items I have made doing my single crochet upside down, I realized that what I made looks pretty cool! I’ve decided to embrace both and termed my new stitch as “Megan’s upside down single crochet”
The Dip for me was the failure I was living in, making it all wrong, feeling ridiculous, resigned, and wanting to give up. After realizing this, I went into what I refer to as “The Flip”- looking at my failure as possibly a path to success. It meant that I need to be vulnerable to learn something new, to put myself out there, with the possibility of failing along the way, and to see this as “The Trip”. So, as Bonnie and I left each other on Saturday, we both committed ourselves to fail this week, to learn something new with the possibly of really sucking at it, and with the future promise of mastering a skill that we didn’t have before The Trip began.
