Tag: crafting

I have spent years feeling inadequate because there is so much I want to learn that I eventually become overwhelmed and end up touching none of it.

At the moment, I am studying four languages. I am still in the phase where my brain immediately reverts to French because it was the first language I learned outside of English.

There are currently four commonplace books in my bag. One of them is completely blank, just in case.

I carry a pen case full of stationery tools I “might need,” along with a Kindle Scribe.

I want to write a dissertation on the Scottish Highlands around the time of Culloden. Or perhaps another period of Highland history. I still cannot decide.

I want to learn to knit so I can make beautiful sweaters and shawls.

I am trying to grow my own food and learn how to can it, partially because gardening fascinates me and partially because apparently some part of my brain is preparing for a zombie apocalypse.

I want to make paper and ink.

I am going to spin my own yarn someday and dye it using plants I have grown myself.

I am designing a planner that actually fits the way I think and work instead of settling for something mass-produced.

I am binding notebooks by hand because it turns out I genuinely enjoy it.

For a long time, all of this made me feel like a failure. I constantly felt behind. Surely, if I were more disciplined, more focused, or more organized, I would already be proficient at half these things.

Eventually, though, I realized something important:

You cannot dedicate your entire life to mastering dozens of subjects simultaneously.

Some seasons of life are for language learning. Some are for gardening. Some are for theology, history, sewing, bookbinding, or note-taking systems.

Some days I spend hours studying Torah. Other days I spend six straight hours documenting Norwegian vocabulary and grammar rules in my learning compendium like a Victorian scholar who has just discovered Scandinavia.

And honestly? That is fine.

I have stopped trying to force myself into becoming a hyper-efficient machine optimized for productivity and mastery at all times.

Now I mostly try to ride the wave of whatever is currently lighting up my brain.

The interests eventually circle back around anyway.

You do not have to learn everything at once.

You just have to stay curious enough to keep returning to the things you love.