Stop the presses! I have been ordered to take a two week break from knitting!
I’ve given myself a repetitive movement injury in my right shoulder. Though it’s not terribly painful, it’s wise to nip this in the bud before it gets to be a big problem.
This is, as you can imagine, a blow. Over the past few days I’ve really come to appreciate how important knitting is to my well-being.
Knitting is therapeutic
Between caring for kids, job hunting and running the household, life can get a little dull. Let’s be real, many of these tasks are downright tedious.
Knitting gives me a break from that tedium. Because it’s easy to pick up and put down, I can seize a free moment to go into that meditative and calming trance. Usually I have the radio going, and knitting allows me to keep my hands busy and better focus on what I’m listening to.
But without knitting?
Well, contrary to what I would have expected, my productivity has fallen dramatically.
I thought that without the distraction of knitting, I’d use the time to fill out more job applications, get the chores done and devote myself to my children.
But actually, I’ve found that without knitting, there is no promise of relief from the tedium.
Suddenly all the chores seem so onerous, and the job applications seem too hard. And honestly? I’ve felt more depressed than I have since the period after my mother died.
While there certainly are other factors contributing to that, it seems that not being able to knit has magnified these negative feelings.
Toughing it out
I’ve been reading more, which is great. But while reading is a favorite activity of mine, it’s not as easy to do with kids in the house. Reading requires complete focus, and I can’t engage in conversation or listen to something informative while I read.
*Sigh* I keep telling myself this is temporary, and that with help from an excellent physical therapist (hooray!), I should be able to get back to knitting before long.
