Regrets...

 

...I've had a few...

Autumn seems to be a time for reflection.  All the dreams of summer, for summer, and yet time marches on.

Yesterday I did another Zoom meeting and this morning is a Sunday Seminar.  I still have to put away the stuff from my seminar, clear all the stuff from the top of the Megado.

I am also in the midst of preparing another warp to go into that loom.  Lots of colour changes will be involved.  I think I've got a reasonable cheat sheet worked out but it will mean extreme diligence during threading to get every colour in the correct place.

It is easy to feel sad at the changing of the seasons, especially when things have been difficult or challenging beyond one's capacity to deal with stuff.  I am gradually beginning to learn how to let go of my high expectations and celebrate what I did manage.

Still a difficult lesson.

I have some friends I use as sounding boards.  They let me rant and rail when I need to vent.  And I hope I am supportive of them when they need to vent, too.

Sometimes students express their regret that they waited so long to learn how to weave.  They voice their concern about learning it all.  I assure them they don't need to learn it all, just enjoy the process.

The thing is, the craft of weaving (spinning, knitting, etc.) is so all encompassing that no one person will ever learn it ALL.

So I go back to the elephant eating analogy.  Begin.  Begin somewhere.  Just...begin.  Choose something.  Reduce the choices so that they don't seem so overwhelming.  Don't feel over burdened the the vastness of it, just...begin.

Then?  Keep going.  Keep going for as long as you enjoy it.  Keep learning.  Keep on, keeping on.

And leave the regrets by the side of the road as you keep taking one more step, then another, then one more.  

The craft so long the life so short to learn (Chaucer paraphrase)