Glitter & Yarn

As someone who has been working with young adults and students for nearly a decade , self-care has always been one of those things that I’ve taught and encouraged. But what does it mean to self-care exactly? When you think about it, what often comes to my mind is practicing yoga, meditation, taking a bubble bath, relaxing… but that doesn’t always come naturally to people. Sure, we all want to have that balanced lifestyle where we wake up at 5:00 am, do a little sunrise yoga while sipping on green juice, inhaling calming lavender essential oils, but let’s be honest. Who has time for all of that?

In the grand scheme of things, to me, self-care means taking time for yourself to do something that makes you feel good. In my case, that means taking time to make something. There is nothing more satisfying than spending an hour or two (or a whole afternoon), creating something. Whether it be working with my hands to make a craft or working on a crochet piece, baking a sweet treat, or even rehearsing for a show, I always feel re-energized, and like I’ve accomplished something.

Over the years, I’ve picked up many new hobbies and skills that make me happy. When I was getting over a breakup, I decided to try and get out of the house and joined a community theatre group. I instantly fell in love with performing and have been cast in over 20 shows since. Going to rehearsals was and is always something I look forward to.

I’ve been knitting since I was a little girl and eventually moved on to crochet in my mid twenties. I love spending time pouring over patterns and feel so accomplished when I’ve finished a project. There have also been studies that prove that knitting and crochet is an accessible and economical way to reduce stress. Counting stitches and reading patterns is an easy way to take your mind off of the daily stresses and focus on creating something beautiful.

I’ve also recently tried my hand at embroidery. I tried embroidery journaling, where I would embroider a little icon every day of the month to represent something that happened that day or something that was meaningful from that day. Again, just a quick moment where I could sit down, step away from what was happening in my life at that point and time and reflect on the day.

I love using my Cricut to make little projects and cute t-shirt and sweatshirt designs. Again, just spending time creating the design, cutting and weeding (picking out the pieces of vinyl), is a great way to shut off the outside world and focus on creating.

And I’m constantly trying out new forms of art. I’ve followed YouTube tutorials for digital art on my iPad, spent time doing collage journals, made polymer clay earrings, whatever it may be, just the act of carving out time to myself has been incredibly therapeutic.

All in all, whatever brings you joy and gives you some sense of calm is the perfect way destress and practice self-care in my opinion. If taking some time to yourself to make something resonates well with you, maybe you’ll have gathered some inspiration here. So go out and make something!