Mindful mending

An antidote to overwhelm

When I first set out to launch my Substack I had another name in mind. The Good Enough Life.

My plan had still been to write about mending and sustainable fashion, as well as my attempts to embrace imperfection. However, I also wanted to explore the notion of what it means to be ‘good enough’ more generally. A good enough parent, writer, partner, friend. But I soon discovered someone had snapped up the name before me, so I had to think again.

I’ve always battled with the search for perfection. I know rationally it’s unattainable, but my mind still looks for it, remains unsatisfied, unsated and does not rest. It's pretty tiring inside my head at times.

I've had so many positive comments about this darn, yet I still see the imperfections. I'm gradually getting better at accepting them, both the compliments and the flaws.

Fortuitously, I recently had the chance to take a course in happiness. Run by The Right Project, the six-week Fashion Happiness course was established in response to the burnout experienced by so many people working in the fashion industry and sustainability sector. Course facilitator Roxanne Houshmand-Howell, a Responsible Brand Consultant, supports people and brands to create positive change through science-backed practical tools and techniques.

I found the sessions hugely helpful as they helped me to identify specific ways of acknowledging my own challenges and calming my mind. Here’s the testimonial I shared with Roxanne after the course:

The Right Project’s Fashion Happiness course was a wonderful opportunity to explore what really matters to me and reflect on habits that have not been serving me well. With Roxy’s guidance I’ve created a personal toolkit of resources that I now use to support and reset myself in challenging moments.

Roxy has created a non-judgemental space where I felt empowered to be honest, creative and bold. I was extremely fortunate to have been with a cohort of so many other incredible women, although something tells me that whoever Roxy brings into the Fashion Happiness fold will be similarly warm, open and authentic.

Fashion Happiness has given me a renewed sense of hope and confidence in my ability to be resilient in the face of negative thinking and challenging experiences.

I love to show the reverse of the repair - the workings behind the darn.

The end of the course, and the building of my happiness toolkit, coincided with my search for a new Substack name. One of the essential elements of the toolkit we each created is mindfulness and doing things where we feel in flow. This does not have to be an hour-long yoga class or even a 30-minute meditation. It could be five minutes of mindful breathing. For me, darning is the perfect mindful activity and antidote to overwhelm.

With all this talk of toolkits, ‘The Mending Kit’ popped into my mind and it stuck.

There are times when darning is one of the best things to calm my mind. I think it's the combination of flow, purpose and creativity. It requires me to use my brain, to focus and think about what I'm doing but I don't have to think too much which gives my busy mind a chance to rest.

So, in addition to my kit of sewing supplies, I now have a mending kit for my mind which, in addition to darning, includes dancing, tennis, reading novels, eating dark chocolate, mindful breathing and more.

What kind of creative things calm your mind, bring you peace and help you find your flow?

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• My mending pile: I’m in the midst of patching up the knees of a heap on my sons’ joggers. It’s a constant battle. Wish me luck!

• What I’m wearing: The jeans in this post have undergone numerous mends. I’m wearing them as I type this and will share all their repairs another day.

• Next week on The Mending Kit: A prized charity shop-bought knit with a designer-ish darn.

Click here for more of my posts about darning.

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