Why It’s Important To Make Mistakes

We know that we will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But I don’t want to make mistakes and that desire to avoid mistakes can be paralyzing.

I don’t consider myself a perfectionist. I’m okay if I stumble into a mistake but my problem is spending too much time figuring out how to avoid mistakes to the point where I become paralyzed.

Let me give an example. I have been agonizing over if I should use this new linen yarn to make a sweater pattern I have been wanting to make for years. First of all, who agonizes over a decision like that? This is supposed to be a fun hobby, not something I agonize over. By agonize, I mean constantly thinking about it in the back of my head. When I retired, I told myself I wouldn’t spend time worrying about minor things!

It all comes down to how I spend my time. I didn’t want to spend time knitting this sweater only to find out it won’t fit. I have done the steps to ensure that I have the right gauge but there are other factors. How much will the yarn stretch? Will my gauge be different in the round? I don’t want to spend time working on a garment I will just have to rip out but the only way I know if it will work is to try it.

I jumped in and cast on the sweater. We usually watch two shows at night which gives me about 90 minutes to knit. I could just be sitting there watching tv so I told myself I wasn’t wasting time.

I’m glad I took the leap. I actually enjoyed the process of knitting the pattern and I’m ok if I have to rip it out. I’m learning about how linen behaves and it’s interesting.

Jumping in is the way to go. It’s the “Just do it” philosophy. Since I get concerned about how I spend my time, I have adopted this strategy.

Mistakes are just information. I was a science major. This is what I was taught. Experiment and learn. I love that I’m still learning after all these years!