You Have Permission to Quit

I have been working on a cross stitch project for awhile, and I’ve probably spent at least 10 hours on it so far. Then the other day when I was stitching, I realized I was one stitch off - the section I was working on was supposed to extend to one square past a part above it, and instead they lined up on the same column. Whatever, it happens, and it wasn’t a huge deal. I figured I would just keep going and it wouldn’t’ be noticeable. Then I got to a section where I ended up having to change the pattern to get the outline to close. Again, it was just one square that I needed to shift, so I figured okay, fine, and I kept going. After each of these hiccups I had gone back and counted every stitch I had done so far, matched it up to the pattern, and I couldn’t figure out where I went astray. Then I got to another spot, and this time I was FIVE stitches off. I was completely off track, and I had no idea where I went wrong. I took the dog out, and I thought about it, and I realized: I just needed to throw it out and start over.

This was actually the most logical, easy plan. I couldn’t find the spot where my stitching got off track, and even if I combed through the whole project, the problem would be like, two hundred stitches away, and I’d have to rip them all out, one by one, and then start again. So why not just start over from scratch? Fabric and floss aren’t expensive, so that’s not an issue. Plus, my time and energy are worth a lot, and there’s a big difference between ripping out 20 stitches and ripping out 200. But it was still hard to accept that the project I had put so much time and energy into was now going in the trash.

My point is, sometimes the best solution is to quit. Just throw it in the trash and move on. You don’t need to suffer through something to “learn a lesson” or “not be wasteful” or make a feeble attempt to ease your guilt. I’m specifically talking about crafts, or cooking, or any project that isn’t directly tied to your survival or affects other people. We’re not talking Big Issues here. But the small stuff? Not only should you not sweat it, you should THROW IT IN THE TRASH.

You’re going to make mistakes. I make new mistakes every day! Just keep moving forward, and move on. I was mad about my cross stitch for a full day. I kept trying to rationalize how I could salvage it. But now I’m over it. I started again, and this time I started from a different spot, so that I’m not reminded of how I already did all this and it was a failure.

This is your permission to quit, throw something away, move on, and never think about it again. Free yourself! It will feel amazing.