Now I am sewing my 7th bag. Although I started it over a week ago, it is still not finished. Let’s talk about it.
The progress on my next bag
My next bag looks like the following, although it is still working:
It is about 80% complete. I will add a shoulder strap and several decorations that cover damage to the original fabric.
Being worse at using the sewing machine
During growth, we sometimes find that things we once could do with ease suddenly feel difficult. Although we should be growing, we feel like we are regressing.
This is a common feeling during growth. By experiencing more complex situations, we are improving our adaptability to circumstances.
I recently experienced it. These days, I feel like I have become poor at using the sewing machine.
This feeling was due to the material I used. When we use a flat fabric, we can sew it with ease because it doesn’t have a bump.
On the other hand, I am now remodeling a pair of old jeans, which have many seams and bumps. When we try to sew over an existing seam with the sewing machine, those uneven surfaces make it difficult to sew straight.
Although I also experienced using an old pair of jeans in my earlier works, they were made by selecting only the easy-to-sew parts. On the other hand, this time, I intentionally chose the best parts I wanted to use. Its appearance and functionality were good, but it was difficult to sew.
Even though it looked like the same material, the difficulty had increased.
That made me feel like I suddenly became terrible at handling the sewing machine.
Living a rational life
Having such anxieties is also an enjoyable part of progressing. That is a typical example of worry when we seek a path different from others.
We cannot always do things in perfect condition. We have to proceed while compromising with limited resources, immature skills, and environmental restrictions. Sometimes, we cannot do anything but push ourselves forward even while holding contradictions.
Although we rely on rationality, we know that our logic is frequently wrong. If we knew everything and our current logic was correct, we should already be billionaires.
In other words, when we try to live rationally, we have to be aware of our ignorance. We don’t know many things, such as how to live well, how to use our individuality, why the world is like this, and even the meaning of life.
However, rationality allows us to proceed with a hypothesis. Unexpected outcomes called mistakes give us feedback, for better or worse. Rational judgments and the accumulation of feedback eventually lead to a reasonable understanding of how this world works.
In a rational life, we have to neither pretend to know nor be brave. We can be honest with ourselves. That eliminates our mental confusion, comes up with reasonable hypotheses, and takes action calmly based on them.
Conclusion
Anyway, I am proceeding with my 7th bag.
This work will be my favorite bag among all the bags I have created.
I am enjoying learning new sewing methods and experiencing new parts.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
