Time for bed. Wait, no! Crochet has NOT been canceled! It has been a busy day on the hook. FINISHED THIS RUMI HAT, FINISHED 2 MORE SQUARES FOR THE CHRISTMAS CARDI AND ABOUT TO WORK A SMALL ORDER. Who else is late night hooking tonight?

One of the biggest why's in my life for crochet is mental health. I didn't know the salvation it would provide for me when I learned how to crochet. It was just a fun way to pass the time with my great grandma that summer. After I had my first child and mental health struggles began to appear for her, I taught her how to crochet. Thru the years she would turn to it from time to time. As an adult she has found it to be a big release of negative energy, sense of purpose and a source of pride. As my younger two are getting older, crochet is a form of calm for them. Yesterday and today were hard mental health days. Days in which the hook can't cure. Yesterday, I spent the morning calling around Camden County NJ to find resources for my mother's mental health and today I spent majority of the afternoon calling around our county looking for resources for my daughter's mental health. I found a common trend....assistance for adults, especially adults that struggle to face their problems, is nearly impossible. It's a sad situation. If you don't have the right diagnoses, correct insurance or a screener that catches on to your deceptions, you wont get the help needed ... so many obstacles in the way. I am saddened, disheartened... We still haven't found either of them a bed...and for my mother, who is not in her right mind, they left finding further assistance up to her. It's so trivial. Tonight I say a prayer that non of you ever face this obstacle and for those that do, I pray you find the resources to guide you in the direction of actual assistance.

I struggle with the idea that I have to have the proper set, the right camera, perfect background and all the jazz so that I can keep up with the next guy. The thing is, I've always been unique. I want my customers, students and friends to see that I am just person, following a calling with a God given talent to create and make people smile. I don't need perfection to do that. As business, I often feel pressured to conform more to the ideals of others and that just not me. This is why I struggle to show up 100% authentic every day. Today, I choose to start shedding the belief that I should conform as a business and choose to just show up authentically as me.

I TRY to go to bed at a decent time. I promise I do. That hook and yarn always call in me to complete something left unfinished while I wait on one thing or another. Tonight, it's these coasters... Does the hook call you at night too?

Gratitude was once a practice that came highly natural to me. As the years have gone by and life has piled on its tests and struggles I have realized that I have to be far more intentional about Gratitude. I've seen that, even the struggles and set backs need to be celebrated. They to have purpose. When we wallow in negative mind spaces, we loose site if the gifts they hold. Today, and ever day, I strive to find the blessings in every moment. Because I like to intensively find the blessing in the challenge, today I am grateful for a slow day. I am not feeling well today and I plan to just relax a bit. For me that looks like creating posts, planning schedules and picking up the hook to maybe catch up on my Christmas squares, but without the pressure of a deadline. If I need to sleep, I will sleep. If I can be productive, I will. The house may not get cleaned and dinner will likely be soup (yum), but I have been given the gift of a reminder to slow down. Today, I will. What are you grateful for today? May you all have a blessed day!