Building a Village

‘It takes a village’ is an African proverb that is familiar to many of us. Whilst it is most often used in relation to raising children, the truth is, it’s applicable to almost every area of our lives as the help and involvement of others is often needed if we’re to succeed at achieving our goals and dreams.

The value of taking the time to build a village was brought home in a recent email from Hannah Brencher. In her email, Hannah unpacked the moment she realised she needed a village and then took us on a journey through the steps she took to build one.

She started by getting honest with the people around her, letting them in on the ‘real’ Hannah rather than just ‘the parts of (her) that looked shiny and impressive’. From there, she worked on building relationships that went beyond a single coffee together. She made herself available to others by asking, ‘What need can I meet? How can I bless others?’ Instead of trying to do everything herself, Hannah said yes when others offered help. Most of all though, Hannah became consistent in simply showing up.

Before long she realised those small, intentional steps when put on repeat, allowed her relationships to blossom from acquaintance to tribe.

Our time with needle and thread is no exception to this.

When we’re honest with those who share our passion about what we struggle with in our needlework journey, accept the help offered (whether it be perfecting a new technique, transferring a design or simply letting someone else thread that all too small needle!), offer help to those around us by sharing a skill that helps meet their needlework needs and simply show up consistently whether it be to our online community, local guild or stitch ‘n chat group, we too will build a village that will support our success with all things needle and thread.

And just like Hannah, we’ll find that ‘there’s beauty in the cycle . . . the village forms. The people come. The village gets stronger and bolder and brighter.’

We all need a village and it’s never too late to start building one.