Techno-Anxiety

Okay...I am just gonna say it. Either my posts are incredibly boring or my readers are terribly afraid to comment. Or perhaps...you don't really know how to post a comment to my blog. I suppose that might really make sense since the three of you who tell me you read my blog actually also tell me that you are terrified of your computer.

So, this one is for you...

There is no need to fear your computer because...it is likely under warranty. It also will not stalk you. Fear is incredibly paralyzing in this arena.

My precious husband HATES technology. He has figured out the DVD player and a master at VCR (even though that language is headed to extinction). But, he truly believes the computer is out to get him. I do understand his fear because I have had to listen to it the whole time I have been immersed in computer technology.

Was I born with this gene? Absolutely NOT. I am mathematically challenged...incredibly challenged. Since most computer core is mathematical, I knew early on that I was in disability zone for myself. The reason I am not afraid of computers is because I am incredibly humble about my ignorance. I will admit to anyone what I do not know.

I also am not terribly afraid of breaking the computer because I have always owned them myself and knew that if I broke it, I would pay to fix it. This sounds terribly simple but it is a learned behavior.

I do not give a persona to my computers. They are not out to get me. My computer does not send me a Viagra ad because it thinks I need spark in my love life. (My husband takes this very personally...howling at the computer "Who is sending that to me?!")

Fear stops us from thinking. My first computer that dumped my life out in no-man's land did it because I didn't appreciate the process of backing up my files. The anxiety of losing my files was so painful for me. However, I did not yell at the computer that it had intentionally gobbled up my files. Because by nature, I accept that I make a lot of mistakes, I tend to accept changes fairly well and am usually seeking out ways of upending protocols to improve. Next time you feel your blood pressure rise over your computer, stop and remind yourself that there is not a person inside that computer. The computer has no way of reading your emotions and deciding to irritate you. More important than that, READ THE MESSAGE on the screen of the computer and try your best to interpret it. Also, remember that if you push the wrong button, the computer will not explode...you will not suddenly turn to dust.

For sewers, I can explain this to you best in these terms. If you are sewing along and you see that your top thread is not connecting and making stitches, you check your bobbin. If you are sewing along and the machines makes a loud crack and no stitches are going in, you look at the needle, see that it is broken and you replace it. If you are having trouble figuring out why a loop forms on the back or front of the fabric and you have tried tension adjusting, you would then bring your machine in to our store to have the technician help you sort out the problem. These are all the same processes as one would use with a computer. Each of them have to do with NOT giving a persona to the sewing machine and deciding that it has taken on the personality traits of your former junior high enemy who is embodying your technology and coming back to haunt you. (Notice how you knew just what I was saying in that statement and felt the same anxiety!)

To be inspired to create, we each need to be free of self-doubt, anger and fear. I give you permission to face your computer or sewing machine or big project at work or worst problem at home and realize that it can only control you if you personify it and let it take you by the ear.

So, there's my pop-psychology on technology and creative inhibition. If you post a comment to this blog, you will not suddenly receive dozens of emails. You will just add your voice to the collective wisdom of blog-dom.

All the BEST to you, jill

p.s. The fabric show I am sharing with you is from the collection FLOWER SHOW from Benartex. The top one is my John Deere tractor combination. The next is my personal favorite that I like to call Vibrant and Vital. The last is my Sunrise collection.