There has been a lot going on in what is commonly known as the real world lately. Most of what I’m talking about is in my personal life. It has made it difficult to crochet, much less focus on business. Because of that, I thought I would share three ways to cope when life happens. Since I am focused on crochet here, that is how I will be framing this. However, it applies to all areas of life.
I know what you’re thinking. You don’t really have time to read through the whole post. Couldn’t I just tell you the tips I have. Sure, I can. And I will. But if you want specific tips for each point, you’ll need to read the whole post sooner or later.
Contents
3 Ways to Cope When Life Happens
The three things you can do are deceptively simple.
- Let it happen.
- Do what you can.
- Give yourself time to get back into your routine.
See? Deceptively simple. I have no doubt you know what they mean on the surface, but on a deeper level, it’s more difficult. Same with implementing them.
1. Let It Happen
At risk of sounding like a cliche, it is what it is. There is nothing you can do to stop life from happening, so just let it happen.
We can write all the plans in the world, but something will happen to make us postpone the plans, if not cancel them outright. That’s okay. You’re only human. You can’t control everything. And, honestly, you don’t want to.
Sometimes we can let life happen and still work on our projects. Other times, we have to put a project on pause to deal with whatever life has thrown at us. The beauty of it is, most of the time, the project will still be there without any real deadline attached to it. (Notice this doesn’t necessarily apply if you’re a designer working with publications or yarn companies or if yore a maker who takes commissions.)
2. Do What You Can
This goes hand-in-hand with letting it happen. It — whatever “it” is — might not completely interrupt your life. Sometimes you can work around it. Yes, any deadlines might have to be postponed, but it can still be worked with or around.
You might have to be kinder to yourself than you’re used to being. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. (My word for 2021 is “grace,” which has the goal of being kinder to myself. It’s not always easy, but it is happening.) This is especially true if the interruption has to do with you personally. Do you have an injury you have to take care of? Or an illness? If it’s not you then it’s a close family member, otherwise it wouldn’t be such a dramatic interruption, right?
You might have to be kinder to yourself than you’re used to being. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
That’s what I thought.
Make\whatever arrangements you need to make to ensure everyone is in the loop (as much as they need to be) and just do what you can when you can.d
3. Give Yourself Time to Get Back into Your Routine\
This is true especially if you’ve been dealing with an injury/ For example, when I had tendinitis in my writs, I had to stop crocheting for a few weeks. Could I just work on it a little bit?
No.
I had to stop completely. If I didn’t, I would be looking at surgery instead of just physical therapy. That would have taken me out a lot longer. So I did it. It took three weeks or so before I could crochet any. Then I couldn’t jump right back in.
This might be the same kind of situation you’re in. You might have to ease back into your routine. If that’s true, give yourself grace. Don’t expect to be able to go hard and getting back into your work.
What Tips Do You Have?
When it comes to dealing with interruptions there are far more than three ways to cope when life happens and gets in the way of your crochet. Do you do something different? What do you do? Leave a comment telling me your tips.
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