Oh! But what if you FLY?

I have been thinking a lot lately about what holds us back in life. The fear that imprisons us. Why is it that we are so afraid of falling? So afraid of taking a risk and a leap into the proverbial unknown? What’s the worst that could happen?

I have often been labelled a risk taker. I don’t know that I agree with the label, mind you, as I think I’m a big chicken!!  But I think i have always set my sights on the horizon up ahead. I believed in growing, changing, learning and becoming. I have always been looking into the distance, into the wide blue yonder and wondering how the view is up there? ​

A few years ago my family and I bought an 80s caravan. We ended up stripping it and completely rebuilding it. It was an experience, to say the least! We sold most of what we owned, found new homes for the chickens and the goat, put the rest of our stuff in storage and decided to travel into the unknown with the kids. We personalised the van and I spent two months making patchwork curtains and bedding out of recycled and reclaimed fabrics. 

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We wanted to see more of Australia, to show the kids our beautiful country, and spend time with them before their childhood disappeared. The original dream was to do the big lap but we quickly realised that was not going to happen. 

There were some amazingly memorable moments, including one magical evening by the billabong watching brolgas dance and sing right on sunset … but our old van was not built for long distance travel, and our autistic son was struggling with the lack of predictable routine and homeschooling. In the end, when we received an unexpected job offer in Central Australia that seemed too good to be true, the decision was made to stay put for awhile to regroup. 

It was a wonderful year. Turns out that the dream job offer was actually too good to be true, and we were forced to move on after a year, but the experience of living in the heart of Australia, the amazing new friends we made, the breathtaking beauty of the landscape, the diversity … it was all worth it.  

For myself, it was a turning point in my life.  A chance meeting, a new introduction, an instant soul-sister and a mum-away-from-home later, and I was encouraged to share my gifts for teaching fibre crafts.  This community of women (and men) lived with such generosity of spirit and fortitude that I was regularly humbled and inspired. The many unforgettable people that I taught to knit or crochet, taught me so much more. 

They taught me how to laugh in the face of adversity, how to pick myself up from disappointment, how to make do, how to find true meaning in helping and connecting with others. This desert community of strangers who instantly became friends and even family, were unlike any I have ever met before.  I found a sense of myself in the desert that I did not have before. I have learnt what is really important to me. I hope I never forget.

I think risk taking is essential with fibre crafts, too. Learning how to knit or crochet and how to follow a pattern (all admirable lessons indeed) are one thing, but having the courage to try tweaking the pattern your own way, forging your own path, designing your own creations, and following your own visions just to see where you might end up? This is craftism. This is flying. 

I am so glad that my family and I took that risk and made the leap of travelling into the unknown two years ago. We may not have ended up exactly where we had planned, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  

I found my wings in Alice.