Painting by numbers, embroidery and puzzles: the ‘prosperity craft’ is ridiculous

I put the new plant on the windowsill and nodded approvingly.

My room was now an oasis of calm, filled with lush greenery and nature. I took it outside and was convinced it would make me calmer, happier and more positive.

In recent years, trends such as gardening and growing plants and flowers have emerged on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, offered as self-care activities and found to be positive ways to spend time with ourselves.

During the pandemic, I have been working from home and can feel lonely at times, so I thought it would be beneficial to spend some time on non-work activities. I was intrigued by the idea of ​​doing

So I came up with the idea to spread beautiful plants throughout my living space. Not only was I able to boost them, but I was also able to boost my own ego. “Of course I love nature,” I imagined telling everyone with modest humility.

I wanted to be one of those “Plant Moms” who are dedicated to plants as if they were their own children and pets and are passionate about everything related to #plantalife.

In fact, he had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t know the names of the beautiful plants he had been collecting for months, or how to care for them.

In my bedroom, I have over 20 of them hanging from the ceiling, on the edge of the floor, on shelves, or on the windowsill. I had fun with that, but quickly gave up after the first few browned in the sun. . and suffocated by excess water.

Now I settle for eight plants that I tend to forget to dust. I secretly hope someone wants them off my hands to make room on the floor.

But I gave up plants, but I liked new fun hobbies…

Embroidery came into my life, as expected, when I was bored. I saw jeans with a fun and simple design, but at an exorbitant price. So I decided to do it myself. I am really impressed. They looked exactly like the photos.

Inspired, I bought every shade of embroidery floss, every size hoop, and practice fabric. I was confident enough to start selling. I felt like I was part of something and I wasn’t so alone anymore. We sell all kinds of bags, t-shirts and bucket hats.

It started out pretty good, selling something every two weeks, and people even asked me to design a rice paddy field.

I have a series of unfinished works linked by plants, along with Dust Bunny. .

I was not proud of my achievements. Instead, I thought I could do better with my time and money.

Around that time, after months of sales and lack of interest, a new trend appeared one day in my feed.

Immediately, I went back to my school days. And then I realized how much better the design was now… it was!

I have 3 drawings and I can clearly put them in the order I drew them.

I drew the image of the tiger carefully. Because I wanted her to be in a state of mind and enjoy the colors.

Second, the Flamingo was when I quickly realized the color scheme was a bit awkward and the brush wasn’t the right size for fine lines.

When I got to the London stage, the lines were choppy and there were random colors where they obviously shouldn’t have been.

We put so much pressure on these activities to magically calm down after an anxiety-filled day, or to be part of a community that encourages each other to get better at work. I started noticing that I was lacking, but it never seemed to fit. Good enough.

I always finished the craft unsatisfying.

But I haven’t given up yet.

Now I’m addicted to old puzzles. I’m one of those big guys that takes a long time because all the parts look the same. I’m still using the template for now. Because I like to put it in a frame and display it when it’s finished.

But now I have a puzzle that has come a long way and has been fully completed in the last three months. Maybe I’m not good with puzzles…

So now my room is full of plants and the embroidery is half finished. I can barely walk without knocking over a flowerpot or finding an old needle.

For some reason I was embarrassed and wanted to throw away and move the stuff that had accumulated so I stopped using it. I didn’t want to face the question of why I changed my mind after doing a full 180 after portraying myself as someone who was dedicated to the craft or enjoyed it very much.

It’s like you can’t take care of yourself. I have nothing to run from, relax or think about. Or maybe you just didn’t find the right one for you.

I enjoy being creative and I know there is no pressure to continue without him so I will continue to look for others.