Click, it’s in your shopping basket. Click, you’ve paid for it. Your purchase will appear on your doorstep in two days without any further effort on your part.
I bought a pair of shoes on deep discount this morning, at breakfast and as easy as pressing digital buttons on my phone while still half asleep. As I later picked up my knitting needles to work on a Christmas blanket project, I couldn’t help but think how my Christmas knitting differed so starkly from my Christmas shopping.
My Christmas knitting project will not be finished in two days. It will probably not be finished by Christmas, in fact. And that’s okay. It’s the slow, calming process that matters to me most. How many “clicks” will it take? Thousands, and that’s kinda the point, too.
The clicking of my phone generally does nothing for me but momentarily serve my impulses to acquire yet another shiny new object I really don’t need. Am I calmer afterwards? Not really. I might get a temporary hit of joy for a minute or two, along with some satisfaction two days later when my item arrives.
On the opposite end of the spectrum of satisfaction, the clicking of my knitting needles keeps me calmer and lowers my blood pressure for several hours, at least. After a half hour of crafting with real materials and with all my fingers (not just the right index finger), my mind is cleared to move on to creative work, planning, or just strategizing to get through the rest of the day.
Crafting highs last much, much longer than online shopping highs. Shopping highs rank right up there with sugar highs for the rebound drops in any joy or satisfaction you got for your so-called efforts. But after crafting for a bit, the calm and satisfaction of actually making something stays with you for a good, long while. And if that satisfaction starts to flag, just pick up those knitting needles again and knit another row. Or just pick up your project and admire what you’ve done, all by yourself. Better yet, show your work to a friend and watch the utter amazement in someone else’s eyes, flabbergasted that you can turn skeins of yarn into a sweater just as nice as whatever they just paid for with their own meager clicking on their phone.
Slow down this Christmas and Advent season. Save your clicking for something that will last, something that will give you fulfillment, a sense of true peace, and maybe even a unique and meaningful gift for someone else.
With blessings for peace and calm this holiday season, Cindy
Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a series of fictional stories woven together by the theme of human connections made through prayer shawls and the craft of knitting. Her newest book is her first historical novel, Knitting Through Time: Stories of How We Learned to Knit. Learn more by visiting her Author Page at this link.
Sycamore Cove Knitting 