Today, I have decided to re-post a piece that I wrote two years ago on a now non-existent blog. I decided to do this because it was exactly two years ago today that I set foot on the campus of the John C. Campbell Folk Art School. The message of this post feels just as important to me today as it did two years ago, so I hope you enjoy!!!
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Trying something new can be scary. It is difficult to leave your comfort zone,
put yourself out there, and open yourself up to criticism, failure, poor
performance, etc. But if you can get
past your feelings of fear, there is often a great reward on the other side – a
feeling of accomplishment, renewed confidence in yourself, the creation of a
momentum for change that you can carry into other areas of your life.
That’s why I firmly believe in the importance of a good life
stretch. It’s hard to grow in any area
of your life if you’re not willing to take some risks. Start out with some smaller stretches to show
yourself that the process isn’t as scary as you thought it would be, and then
move on to bigger ones. Only you will
know what is a “small” or “big” stretch for you.
I recently took a very big stretch in my life. Something that might seem small to others,
but it was huge for me. Growing up, I
was always the “book smart” kid – a straight A student who studied all the time
and didn’t do much else. I never
considered myself to be an “artistic” person.
I wasn’t any good at drawing or painting or any other creative thing
that required the use of my hands.
In my adult life, I eventually came to realize how these
types of thoughts have been severely limiting me. In reality, I had never really tried very
hard to do anything that was artistic or creative. I had reached a fundamental conclusion about
myself based on very little evidence. I
created a “non-artistic” label for myself in my childhood which in turn became
a big part of the adult that I am now.
Once this realization dawned on me, I decided that it was
time for a stretch. So I started to look
for an art class that I could take. I am
fascinated by glass and plastic jewelry, so I was hoping to find something I
could take in that area.
A very cool thing about making personal stretches is that
once you make a firm decision to stretch, the Universe will often assist you in
creating the circumstances that you need to make the stretch happen. “Coincidences” will begin to pop up
mysteriously.
My main “coincidence” is that my dear friend Kelly
independently approached me with her desire to take a class. In fact, we had both independently come up
with the same place that we wanted to take the class: the John
C. Campbell Folk Art School in Brasstown, North Carolina.
I had hesitated in signing up in the past because the school
is a 6 and ½ hour drive from Raleigh, and anyone who knows me knows that I am
not keen on driving long distances. But
Kelly was willing to drive, so off we went in March for a week-long
adventure! It was a huge help to me to
have a good friend along to share my stretch!
Kelly took a class on learning to play the harmonica (sorry, "the harp"!), and
mine was a glass bead making class for beginners.
I admit that I was nervous about how I would do in the
class. It involved the use of a flame,
an idea that I was not particularly comfortable with. I also feared that I would be overwhelmed in
a week long class and that I wouldn’t be able to keep up.
The week started off badly.
Kelly and I had obtained the last two available beds for the week, which
meant that we could not have the private room that we initially wanted, but
instead were stuck with a 6-person “dorm style” room. I had my reservations about this sleeping
arrangement from the day that we signed up for the class.
My fears were well founded, because we had a woman in our
room who snored so loudly that I could barely believe that one person could
make so much noise. After listening to
several hours of non-stop snoring, Kelly and I eventually left the room in the
middle of the night and tried to sleep in the downstairs community room on some
short couches. I did not get a minute of
sleep the entire night, and it was one of the longest nights of my life. I felt completely trapped, 6 and ½ hours from
home, with nowhere to go. I couldn’t
imagine an entire week of trying to sleep in that room.
When morning finally came, I was not particularly eager to
set out for class. I was tired and
miserable. And within just a few hours
of starting the class, my worst fear came to pass. The person next to me was working with a
piece of glass that shattered in her flame, and a big chunk of 2000+ degree
glass landed right on my neck.
Yes, I had sustained a second-degree burn within just a few
short hours!
By the afternoon, I was completely exhausted and a bit
freaked out from being burned. The class was moving at a fast pace and I was
struggling hard to keep up. After the
introduction of yet another complicated technique, I had all that I could
take. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I
found myself unable to stay. I knew that
I had to get out of there before I completely lost it. I ended up leaving well before the afternoon
session was over, and I did not return for the evening session.
What a horrible start to the stretch that I had so been
looking forward to! After the first day,
I absolutely wanted to quit and go home.
I was well on the way to convincing myself that the artistic path was
not for me at all, and I was also beginning to beat myself up for signing up
for the class. How could I have been so
stupid as to try to change who I was after so many non-creative years??
Luckily for me, Kelly was there to help. Someone in her class had heard that there
were some cancellations for the week and that we might be able to switch
rooms. We went to the school director
and begged for a new room, and luckily there was one available. We ended up having this new room all to
ourselves, which I think was the turning point for me.
Kelly convinced me to go back to class the next day and give
it another try. “Just see if you can
have a better day than today,” she said.
I didn’t think it could get much worse, so I decided to go with Kelly’s
belief that my experience was likely to improve.
I never did quite get over the exhaustion of that sleepless
first night, but my experience really did get better. I got some sleep, I didn’t get burned again,
and I actually started to make some beads!
The class went more and more smoothly as the days passed, and by the end
of the week, I had about 40 beads to bring home with me. Many were lopsided and misshapen, but a lot
of them are quite pretty. I have been
wearing different bead combinations on a chain ever since I returned home.
But what I really came away with at the end of the week was
a sense of pride and accomplishment. I
was so proud that I went back to class after that first day. Even though I got burned, I didn’t let my
fear hold me back from what I wanted to do.
I learned a new skill; I expressed myself and my creativity; I met some
great people; and I really did stretch.
All in all, it was a fantastic journey, and I think that my
troubles at the beginning of the week made me all the more appreciative of what
I had achieved by the end of the week. I
am so happy that I took the class, and I am now inspired to do even more
stretching in other areas of my life. My
hope is that this story will inspire you to start stretching too!
Some of the actual beads that I made -- Photo courtesy of Tom Schmucker/Swivel-Eye Photo
; she
writes a very popular blog also called 
