Skip to Content

How Far I’ve Come

How Far I’ve Come

Thank you so much for sharing!

How Far I’ve Come

It’s late, I’m up watching the Olympics and fixing old blog posts after my site hack over a year ago (don’t worry the site is safe now) but I came across this post from 2010.  I wanted to share 😉

You can see the obvious broken image, but can you read what it says above that?

how far i've come

I did a giveaway for reaching 30 subscribers… you guys. 30. I saw that and was immediately stunned.  I was and still am so honored that 30 people would read my blog.

As a blogger and online influencer, comparison is often a very difficult thing to overcome. While I can be honest and say that I truly feel that there is room for all of us, that bringing others down is not the answer and that we can ALL thrive – I am also human and I can say that I sometimes struggle with comparison.  There are so many amazing makers and designers out there!

It helps to push me but can also lead me to beat myself up – this is real honest talk here.

I am thankful for this reminder because when I remember back to the time that I was so excited to have 30 subscribers on this blog and that now I have over 500,000 subscribers across all of my social media channels – I am filled with gratitude.  It doesn’t happen overnight and honestly the numbers do.not.matter to me.  The honest truth is that making a connection and empowering your creativity and helping you discover handmade is FAR better than silly numbers.

We can get very hard on ourselves where we are now (and where others are) and forget about how far we have come.  This creative life is about the journey.

Maybe it was watching the Olympics or the glass of whiskey I was drinking but I remembered this tonight and I am thankful.

Review Your Evidence

Do you feel this way with your creativity?  Right now, I want you to pull out a photo of one of your first creations – It’s ok, I’ll wait and get mine out too.

Now compare that with something you made recently… Ok I’ll go first.  I made this pillow with a leftover block from my first quilt. This was back before I was on YouTube in 2009. Hopefully you can see that at least my photography skills have improved haha ;).

pillow

Now here’s a photo from the Isaiah Border Blanket course… and um hello – that’s a little better right? We’ve graduated to natural light and props!

crochet blanket with border

Now your turn…

See what I mean?! The only comparison I want to be guilty of is to myself. I want to continue to learn and grow, but it’s not fair to compare my journey to someone else’s. Do MY best for HIS glory and that is my ultimate goal at the end of the day. And doing my best means to lift others up as well. Let’s live this creative life well… let’s try our best and live in gratitude and positivity toward ourselves and toward others – with a drive that urges us to continue to learn and create and give.

While I was looking through old photos I came across this little blast from the past.  Here’s my little sewing area in our 2nd house in Alaska, this little townhouse was on Fort Richardson, which is now called JBER or Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. We lived in this house less than a year but I loved that my husband could walk to work (we had 1 car) and the moose would come and eat the leaves off of our trees because we didn’t have a fence for our yard. This area was in our 3rd bedroom/guest room but honestly I sewed at the dining table most of the time so I could watch my son play who was about 2 years old.

old sewing room

I’d love to hear your thoughts, has this resonated with you in some way?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

 

Karey krohnfeldt

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

I love this. I know this "comparison" feeling all too well! My first knitting project is firmly visible in my mind. I can even recall how I photographed it (my cat was my model!). And ironically before reading this post, I photographed my current WIP, and thought wow, what a difference...how I've grown. I love these revelations. Thank you for this real post about a real feeling that many of us face. I love following your work and thanks for the inspiration!

Corrine Lawrence

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

Love this. You're the best, Melanie. So thankful to have found you. <3

Maria

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

I have to say thankyou for your teachings of crocheting the v stitch baby blanket on u tube. I was looking for someone to teach me how to make a baby blanket and i found your chanel . I have to tell you i love this blanket and your teachings were so easy for me to follow that i made 30 of them. My daughter runs a daycare and all of the babies call me grammy and i told them id make them a blanket and i did and many more for some needy babies . They love them and my daughter told me they sleep and carry them with them everywhere. So i have to tell you how much they love them and to say a big thank you from my heart . I have also made the baby hats you have on your chanel so of course they got one of them to match the blanket.

Sincerly and sending Gods love and blessings. Maria

Trish Blakely

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

Melanie, thank you so much for all the work you do. Your warmth and encouragement are just as helpful as your tutorials! I’m going to make some charity blocks starting Monday and I’ll post when I send them to Superbuzzy. 😀👍

CHERYL

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

Your channel is such a fun one for me! I love the variety of things you bring to us. And you are so right we all have a uniqueness to bring to the table and should never really compare ourselves to others but let them serve as inspiration for our own lives!

Comments are closed.