Hi! to enter the giveaway please comment on either this post or my facebook page GreenBirdDreaming…
I have decided its time for another giveaway.
Now to the theme of the giveaway. The Small Achievement Award.
I was thinking the other day about how I run myself down and always try to work harder and push myself further and think ‘oh, i am not working fast enough’ or ‘I am not being good enough’. I work with a Toltec teacher and part of this work is seeing myself and finding out who I really am, finding where I stop myself from shining but also just be happy where I am right now and accept myself. I, as explained above, push myself in this also and he tells me ‘but Cliodhna, you are great! you are an artist living in Chihuahua and you travel here and travel there and you paint beautiful things’ and I think, ‘you know he’s right, I have done a lot and i don’t give myself credit for what I have done, I just run myself aground on my thoughts of what I didn’t do or how I did it wrong’.
Thats where this post comes from, not the big achievements that are in papers or make news on the television but the little achievements we don’t give ourselves credit for, being a mother raising wonderful children, painting, making a cake, being nice to the neighbour, listening to someone, learning to drive, traveling, just being me, whatever you have done or do that you don’t recognise as an achievement.
I am going to officialy give myself a pat on the back for living in another country, learning another language, and on an even smaller level changing a lock in a door which took me a while to figure out but all finished and I had a perfectly working chub lock without calling a locksmith to do it! I was quite proud of that 
Comment below to enter the giveaway and if you like, share something small you have achieved you would like to congratulate yourself for. Can be anything!
x cliodhna
July 23rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
What a lovely positive post. It’s about time you patted yourself on the back for the talent you are. Changing a lock? Wow, I don’t think I could manage that. When I was on my own I once fixed a cupboard door and I was so proud of myself! Great post. xxx
July 24th, 2010 at 9:03 am
hmm…let’s see….
oh - and the wood laminates look gperfect, and don’t curl!
the most recent thing i could thingk of is that i solved a problem at 4:30 in the morning in a rainstorm - i had built a painting shed out back of my studio so i could work on larger stuff outdoors from tarps and 1×2 spruce - super flimsy, not ment to last more than a couple of months. then we had a few big storms here, and i discovered the roof sagged with the water weight, as it wasn’t draining properly, so i had to get up every time i t rained at night and empty out the roof… and yesterday, i bought a whole bunch of wood to try and fix it, and ended up fixing it with a 3 6″ long leftover bits…and it WORKS!! i have never really been much of a practical builder, and had no plans for how to build this shed…but it works like a charm….so, that’s what i think i should be congratulated on
July 24th, 2010 at 9:43 am
congratulations to the both of you!
July 28th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
(I know I’m too late for the giveaway, but I’m going to comment anyway!)
Your post really made me think - it’s so true. I think craft workers in general tend to be perfectionists, which is why we do what we do, and why we’re good at it. However, it can be taken too far. I know I do - I always see the faults in things that I’ve done, not the good bits, and that applies to everything, not just my embroidery.
Starting now, I’m going to try and stop beating myself up about these things and celebrate my achievements, even (or especially) small ones.
I’ve just reupholstered some dining chairs! I’ve never done that before, and I didn’t have enough fabric to make a mess of it and start again, so I had to get it right first time, and I did! They look really good and I’m very pleased. See, I can do it if I try!
July 28th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
congratulations! upholstering is complicated! my mum has upholstered chairs and it was hard work. I bet they look great.
xx
July 28th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
and the draw was won by l.t.dougherty, she of the perfect non-curling wood laminates