I've been thinking a lot about self care in the last few months.
What exactly it is, and how you do it. Or - more honestly - how I do it (or how I don't, but would benefit from it).
Apparently, we often we expect something from our partners that we missed out on when we were children. In these cases, it's best to work out what that thing is; and then find a way to give it to ourselves.
For me, I think this is time. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am never on time, I never had time, I very rarely give myself time. I am not very good at just being, right here, in this moment of time.
So, I've started to make the conscious decision to press pause, and allow myself to go with the eb and flow, instead of fighting (and failing) to do things 'on time', as I normally do. After all, I'm the only person in my on-woman business, who knows anything is late!
Bound up in carving out some time for myself, is the issue of replenishing creativity and allowing space to play in my jewellery practice.
Within such a nurturing space I've found myself drawn to wax carving. It's a wonderfully transportable process. I carved first a heart, and then a cube whilst sat in the sunshine on the bow of our boat with the gentle sounds and reflections of the river all around me (see the beginnings of the process on TikTok).
Both pieces are carved with love and - as such - they are my self-care talismans. I love how tactile and weighty they are, despite their small size and inconspicuous presence.
As part of a move towards reminding me to put myself first in the here and now, I have gifted myself one of each. When I wear them, I often find myself absent-mindedly touching them; threading the heart up and down the delicate chain; or rotating the cube and feeling it's reassuring edges. There is something very grounding in their weight and solid being-ness.
We are all small in the grand scheme of things, but we all have the right proportional amount of gravity and anchor to the earth. Sometimes we just need to notice where we are at, catch ourselves, and change direction.
Often we just need a small, solid reminder to carve our paths with love.
Step by step from blue wax to cast sterling-silver necklace pendants - a TikTok video series
