This New Year feels different. It feels like there’s hope. We can look back, learn lessons, and use them to build back better, and I’m no exception to that. So as the year turns and my voice slowly heals, it’s time to use it to tell my truth.
You know you ought to be working on it, but there it still sits, in a bag/on a shelf/in the corner, looking at you. You know the deadline is approaching. Your project keeps whispering to you about it. You know it’s going to be a last minute nightmare, or worse, a missed opportunity. So how do you break the standoff?
Some of you know that I’ve been having voice lessons… for about six months now.
I’ve always wanted to learn to sing, but it’s difficult to summon up the courage to try a new hobby. I mean, the courage not just to try it, but to sustain that courage long enough, and keep practising long enough, to feel really good at it. Good enough to really enjoy it, you know?
Well courage is neither here nor there, now.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I’ve been forced into voice lessons by a problem with my vocal cords. It’s not so much singing lessons as “voice rehab”… because although my singing is alright, speaking is a struggle.
I don’t know how it began – maybe stress, maybe a physical issue that cleared up and left bad habits behind; all I know is that I am physically fine – the doctors can find nothing wrong – and yet right now, my speaking voice is a croaky, whispery mess.
What does this have to do with sewing? Stay with me.
I love wearing vintage, but sometimes I feel bad about wearing really old clothes… especially if an accident happens. ????
My favourite vintage dress shirt has been hanging in my sewing room with a 3″ L-shaped rip for months… and I finally decided there was only one thing to do… mend it the same way its original owner might have done…