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Scary things you need to do - knitting and otherwise
We scheduled the winter retreat sometime last fall - I wanted to get the speaker, hotel, and restaurant lined up. I like to have something to look forward to after the holidays - plus it's a quiet time in need of a little excitement. Or so I thought. Enter Vogue Knitting Live and suddenly a quiet January and February turned into weeks of me with my hair on fire.
It's okay. Or, it will be, I guess. It's been a whirlwind - a steep learning curve in a world I know nothing about. I mean, sure, I know knitting, and I've been selling the product for going on two decades now, but vending at a trade show? Uh. No. First, it's in a scary place called New York where this little country mouse has only ever been a couple of times. And even if it were in DC, there are so many things to know. Like what you need to take and how you get it there. We're hauling a literal ton of stuff in the car, but there's so much more to it. You pay for a booth but everything in it, except for the trash can, is extra. It honestly feels like I'm outfitting for a Denali expedition with no Sherpa.
Trisha Malcolm and Linda Pratt from Rowan have been amazing, but even so, there's just a lot to navigate. They can guide me, but they can't do it for me. I have a lot to learn, and I'm terrified of making an unrecoverable mistake.
Your first trip to the yarn shop can feel exactly like this. So much stuff. How do I figure out what I need and how much? And the voice in the back of our mind thinking, "This is going to be so expensive.--I really don't want to screw it up." It's a different world with a whole new vocabulary.
I get it. I truly do. Doing something new and big is scary, but sometimes you just have to do it. You hope there's a friendly person who'll advise and guide you, but they can't do it for you. It's the doing where the learning happens. And we have to start before we're ready.
Michael, Gilda and many others have told me I should do this show, but It's always been too scary, but it's not like it was going to get less scary with each passing year. Scary things only get less scary when you actually do them--when you dive in and try, make mistakes, learn, and try again.
Whether it's your first stitch. your first sweater, or your first show. Do the scary thing. It won't be nearly so scary next time.
Warmly,
Ellen
p.s. Would love to hear your thoughts. What's the scariest thing you've done?
Ellen
11 Responses
Cynthia
February 08, 2023
My very first day as a new nurse on my own….and I was a Critical Care Nurse in the Unit. I truly felt like I knew nothing and either my patient would die or I would. We both survived and that was many, many years ago. It has helped me get through many things over the years. The adage is true, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” You’ll be on the otherside of it before you know it, Ellen.