And no, I’m not talking about Acupuncture. During the last half of November and all of December, I was feeling the squeeze of stress in all forms–I had no energy, was drinking red wine on a regular basis, eschewed exercise (low energy… remember?), was eating more than usual, and had no drive to do anything but hibernate. It’s one thing to have a lazy day, but I was having a lazy month (and a half). During this time, I began to knit. My sister had bought a book of patterns for knitting and re-ignited my love of knitting. I began on my parent’s couch with some left over yarn from a project years ago on an afternoon where I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. Once the needles started clicking together and I began to count my stitches, that tight feeling in my core started to unravel, like the yarn that I was working with. I made a scarf, then another, then another, then I moved to cowls and neckwarmers, then I finished a baby blanket and made a knit basket…I had no one in mind for many of the scarves, but didn’t dare stop knitting…it had become my therapy, my meditation. I have quite a stockpile of knit gifts for the coming year and I don’t intend to stop now.
How do you handle stress? When you feel that tension creep into your body, what do you do to to dissolve it? A warm bath? Gentle yoga? A long run? Tell me, I’d love to know!
