Creative projects help

A few years ago I wrote about how I started cross stitching as a result of a psychologist "prescribing" something that would help me "stop a while".

I've been doing little cross-stitch projects recently, actually for many months, but they aren't as satisfying as a large project. In recent weeks I've begun a larger project and I'm so happy about it! It will probably take me many months, but I'm so happy to have this to look forward to in the evenings.

A long time ago a friend gave me a book called, "Affliction" by Edith Schaeffer. It is a book you should definitely not read while in the midst of affliction! I actually found it quite difficult to get through (she rambles around quite a bit), but there are some great gems in there that have helped form my own "theology of suffering". One of the more unusual pieces of advice she gives is having a creative project always on the go.

"(Write a) list for things that are not absolutely necessary to be done that day, but that are creative projects. . . Painting? Dressmaking? Knitting? Gardening? Writing? Exercising carefully for your back, or to get two inches off your waistline? Always have some projects in progress, even if you have to neglect them. It is quite a different thing to feel that you have neglected cutting out your new dress, or the leather animal you are designing or the wooden tray you are decorating with an electric needle, than to have nothing concrete to have 'neglected.' It is psychologically very different." p237-8

She says, of those who are too tired after the essentials of life are done,

"...energy also diminishes when there is not enough incentive, and beginning a creative work, some sort of project you can watch take shape, can often carry with it a fresh supply of energy. I have had a short two-month period of being hemmed in by two rooms, caring for Grandmother Schaeffer after her stroke . . . I didn't leave the two rooms except to run—and I do mean run—to the corner store and back. . . (she longed to be back with her husband and children at L'Abri) Then I suddenly realized that I was begin given time to do some of the things I could never do any other time without feeling guilty. So I set out to make doll clothes." p239

I agree with her. While I'm not currently in the midst of "affliction", this idea of having a project on the go is a sound one. It certainly helps me keep a good balance in my life. Other things that help me in this way are books and our more recent hobby of camping. Having these to look forward to really helps. I particularly noticed that back in 2011, after I had suffered some serious "affliction" in conflict on top of watching disasters in both Australia and Japan. Planning camping trips was therapeutic at that time.

When I wrote about this back in 2010, Ken added an interesting comment to my post:

"Everyone needs a hobby to balance out their life. It should be something which has no consequences attached to it. Except perhaps something decorative or useful at odd times. It should also be a hobby which is not co-optable. There is a great pressure today to force everything into some kind of useful cost/benefit mould.

I discovered making latchhook rugs after the kids left home and we were restoring order in the pantry. I wondered about the little tool and all the balls of thick yarn. I also had a book of Roman tile floor designs at the time. So I put the two together and began work on a rug using the leftover bits. Nothing to do with work, nothing to do with satisfying demands of other people, nothing to do with justifying my existence in the world. About 8 months later I had a large rug, which I then gave away. I mght start another one or I might not. Not many activities in our live today give us that kind of freedom."

Do you have a hobby that helps you get through those tough days? What do you look forward to?