April 12 is WALK ON YOUR WILD SIDE DAY!
Walk on Your Wild Side Day encourages us to take a chance. It’s a call to the inner strength within you, to do something out of your comfort zone. Do something wild and crazy, and perhaps a little daring, but nothing dangerous nor illegal…
To commemorate Walk on Your Wild Side Day, several bloggers in our crochet community decided to take a twist on this theme by writing about something that we’ve done crochet related or not that would be considered a walk on the wild side.
In my case, I’ll share two instances. Yes, two…I walk on the wild side a lot, haha! Ok, that’s sooo not the case…probably need to do more but that’s another blog post! What is true though is that I do like to experience new things and over the years I’ve gained an appreciation for experiences that take me out of my comfort zone. These activities have ended up being among the most rewarding, exhilarating things I’ve ever done.
First Time
The first time that I consciously, intentionally dared to walk on the wild side was in 2002 when I ran my first marathon. That year we were still riding the waves of the new millennium, still thrilled that the Y2K fears hadn’t been realized. Entering the new millennium, a lot of people took stock of their lives and used the turn of the century as an opportunity to try new things; I was no exception. In my case, I made the decision to leave negative things behind in the 20th century so I got a divorce, bought a house, and quit smoking. Ok, some might argue that these also qualify as examples but for now I’ll just stay focused on my original two, lol….
By 2002, I was settled into my new season of life and wanted to do something challenging, something that was completely different than anything I’d experienced up to that point in my life. Growing up, I wasn’t athletic as a child except for a couple of seasons of community league softball during my junior high years. I live in California so love the outdoors and wanted to do something that would enable me to get outside more and enjoy the beauty of the area. The 2002 new year had begun and I started hearing advertisements for a training program called Team in Training, a fund raising program sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Their radio ads said that if you fundraise for them, they could train you to do an endurance event like a marathon or biking a century (100 miles) in different locations across the country. I was interested in a biking event in Alaska so decided to attend the information session. I was excited to discover that a good friend was also planning to attend. During the session, I decided to join my friend and train instead for the Rock ‘n Roll San Diego Marathon.
Training
By the fourth week of training, I was wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into! This was hard, my body was one big ache, I still wasn’t comfortable running, and I missed several training sessions because of work. I wasn’t sure I could do this, maybe I bit off more than I could chew with this commitment. Speaking of commitment, I committed to fundraising $3600! We were approaching the fork in the road with the program which is where you have a final opportunity to leave the program without commitment. If you move forward, you are committed to raising the amount or paying the difference between what you raise and $3600. The fear of not meeting my fundraising goal was more daunting than the race itself at times.
After discussing with participant friends and the veterans who’d completed the program before, I realized that I was going through the normal jitters that new participants went through. Another compelling factor is one I hadn’t mentioned. My father died from a rare blood cancer and was one of the reasons I wanted to complete the program. Remembering my desire to honor his memory quickly outweighed any fears that I had. So I committed and reassessed. I worked with my coaches to modify my training schedule to make it more workable for me, e.g., instead of attending a training after work, I would train during my lunch hour at work. I followed the program fundraising guides, stepped out on faith, pulled out my email list and sent an email that told my story about joining TNT, highlighted my training highs and lows, and made the request for donations.
And over the next 12 weeks, I was amazed. I emailed the list periodically to give updates regarding my training and fundraising progress. At first, I didn’t get much of a response but then something remarkable happened. The donations started coming in and in some cases, I didn’t recognize the donor names. What I didn’t realize is that some of my subscribers forwarded my email to their friends because they were inspired by my story and I began to receive donations from people I didn’t know. And then I received donations from people I wasn’t close to but who had heard my story and wanted to support me. I can’t tell you how touched I was by others who were inspired enough to make such generous donations.
The training that Team in Training was top notch. Over the course of the training period, my body got stronger, my runs improved, and I met a lot of interesting people along the way. And the race itself was fantastic. San Diego is one of the most beautiful cities in the US which made the route very scenic, and raceday was a warm, sunny day. One trademark feature of the Rock ‘n Roll races is that there’s a band at every mile stop playing music to keep runners pumped up along with a water/snack station to stay hydrated and cool. And the San Diego community couldn’t have been more supportive. They lined the route of the race and cheered us on with signs, fruit, and some even sprayed us with water which was very welcome as it was a warm day.
The idea that fear is really “False Expectations Appearing Real” played out regarding both my fundraising and my training. I ended up raising $4200 and completing the marathon successfully. And while I haven’t run a marathon since then, I’ve completed dozens of half marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks.
What I learned from this experience is:
- do the work, trust the process, and you’ll meet your goals
- break things up into manageable bites so that you can complete them without feeling overwhelmed
- modify something to meet your needs rather than miss out completely (where possible)
- it really is all in your head
There’s a saying that I used to have as my Facebook personal quote:
“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”
And it’s so true. Based on my marathon experience, I can do anything if I put my mind to it. It’s amazing what can be unleashed when you take a step on the wild side!
Second Time
Are you wondering what my second walk on the wild moment is? Starting my handmade crochet business and blog, of course! LAUGH
Interestingly, the learnings from my marathon experience are what gave me the confidence to launch my crochet business one year ago this month. I had been crocheting for a while and while crocheting a baby blanket for a gift began thinking that one of the most treasured moments is welcoming a new life into the world and into our families. A handmade gift is a time honored practice across cultures.
In fact, I still have the baby blankets that I crocheted for my sons who are now 25 and 17 as well as the baby blankets that I received for them as baby shower gifts. I recently unpacked them to look at them and was pleasantly surprised to see all but one in perfect condition after all these years. I was awed by the level of detail in some of the handmades and could tell that they were lovingly made by special people, some of whom are no longer with us. I’ll keep them and give them to my sons and their partners if/when they have kids.
Family and legacy are important to me (in my spare time, I’m a genealogy enthusiast) and the idea that I can pass on these treasured items to the next generation and that this tradition could become a family tradition through the generations is heartwarming. That’s when it clicked that the blankets and other gifts that I create with my crochet business offers the same opportunity for other families. That’s when I thought that maybe I could somehow turn this hobby into a part-time business.
Hobby to Business
Interestingly, within 24 hours of deciding that a crochet business would be something worth researching, I received an email invitation to register for an upcoming Crochet Business Summit. It was great because even if you missed live events (which I would because of my schedule), you could still access the recorded sessions. Whaat?? Ok, who was reading my mind??
The instructors were fabulous and the sessions informative. As I assessed the opportunity, I knew it was a perfect fit both in terms of being feasible as a part-time business and also in terms of being a creative outlet. Within a week of attending the summit, I completed all of the necessary steps to establish a business and Crochet & Twists was born.
I’ve since joined the Crochet Business Academy, which is a crochet business coaching business to ensure that I’m establishing my business effectively. One of the many things that I enjoy about my business is that it combines all of my creative interests – writing, photography, and yarn! I’ve learned a lot, have had challenges, but have also come to accept that this is part of the process and is actually where the real learning and growth takes place. Even more, I’ve met and continue to meet the most interesting people from all over the world who share this love of yarn and color.
My focus now is to create patterns and quality blog content. You can find my patterns on Ravelry. I’ll be participating in several collaborations with other designers over the course of the year and look forward to sharing my new creations with you!
Again, it’s amazing what can be unleashed when you take a step on the wild side!
Some of my crochet designer friends have also blogged about how they’ve walked on the wild side. Here are some of their posts:
- Christine of Sweet Potato 3 talks about how taking a chance in her crochet designs paid off
- Debbie of Madame in a Stitch writes about taking a chance even when you love what you do
- Christina of Creative Snugglies Design shares how she went from a crochet maker to a crochet designer
- Melanie of TimmelCrochet shows you a cool head warmer for her chihuahua
- Erin of Juniper & Oakes talks about how she reached “wild” goals with her crochet business
Lurdys says
How have you walked on the wild side?