Suddenly

And seemingly just like that we find ourselves writing the last issue of All Stitched Up! for the year. In some ways the beginning of the New Year feels a lifetime ago, yet suddenly we find another year has passed.

There’s a dichotomy of time that’s often felt at the end of something that James Clear manages to sum up perfectly.

‘In the middle, it feels slow. In hindsight, it feels fast.’

We’re not sure about you, but that is an apt description for not only time, but also many of the ‘suddenlys’ that happen in life.

The babies we nursed through sleepless night after sleepless night have suddenly left home and we find ourselves adjusting to an empty nest. We relish each long, lazy day on holiday, only to find upon our return home that we suddenly feel like we never left. We count day after dawdling day as we await a special occasion only to find it’s suddenly over in all but the blink of an eye.

There are even times we lay stitch after incredibly slow stitch, feeling as if we’ll never finish the project before us, yet suddenly our time with needle and thread is over and the experience feels somewhat fleeting.

The truth is that time is constant, it’s only our perception and how we feel about it that varies.

After reading James’s quote and thinking about the year that’s almost behind us, it’s made us appreciate that each day has the same 24 hours in it and, for the most part, we get to choose how we spend those hours.

So, we need to spend them carefully, ensuring we’re present in each moment, relishing the slow we all too often try to hustle along as the next ‘suddenly’ will suddenly be upon us and we don’t want to feel as if the days leading up to it are fleeting.

Here’s to savouring each moment of the holiday season before us whilst also looking forward to the suddenly when we’re back together again on 20 Jan ‘23 for All Stitched Up! issue #362…