← Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Sewing and Neurodiversity, with Hannah Choi | Episode 76
00:36:15
Because of our neurodiversity, each of us uses our mental skills, or executive functions, differently in our sewing practice. You can learn to harness those functions for even more enjoyment when sewing.
Loading summary
Transcript40 lines
- [00:00]
Kenneth D. King
Hello, I'm Threads Contributing Editor Kenneth D. King. I want to introduce you to Lola, the showgirl who has adventures and gets new fashions in my new book, Doll Couture. Lola, who happens to be an 11 and a half inch fashion doll, is restarting her life in New York City, so she needs amazing outfits to match. Doll Couture walks through her story where we meet the new friends she encounters along the way. These friends help her and they make sure she has the fashion she needs for every situation. My book includes the patterns and instructions for each outfit so you can create your own doll fashions just like Lola's. Check out Doll Couture by Kenneth D. King at Amazon, Target, Barnes and Noble, tauntonstore.com and all fine booksellers.
- [00:58]
Carol Frazier
Welcome to Sewing with Threads, the monthly pod with the staff of Threads magazine. I'm your host, Carol Frazier, and today I'm joined by Hannah Choi. Hannah is an executive function coach for Beyond Booksmart and the host of the podcast Focus Forward, an executive function podcast. As a coach, she supports college students and adults. She holds bachelor's degrees in psychology and American Sign Language from the University of Rochester and a Master's of Arts degree in education from UC Santa Barbara. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two kids who are 12 and 15. She loves to sew, read, watch Korean dramas, exercise, travel, and spend time outdoors. Hannah says her own executive function strengths are time management and cognitive flexibility, and her challenges are working memory and attention. We'll talk to her about what all these terms mean and how they relate to having a productive and joyful sewing practice. My guess is that we'll all recognize some of our own challenges, and Hannah will help us understand and work with them. Welcome, Hannah.
- [02:01]
Hannah Choi
Hi Carol. Thank you.
- [02:03]
Carol Frazier
It's so nice to have you here. I've got loads of questions and I think our listeners will be able to learn quite a bit from your experience and your expertise. So I would love to start by asking you to define executive function. What are the signs that it's not working for you?
- [02:20]
Hannah Choi
Yes, great question. A lot of people hear the word executive function and maybe just pass over it or just think, oh, I don't think that has anything to do with me. And I think part of it is because the word executive is in there. And a nice way to think about this is that executive functions are mental skills that we use to execute our days. And so that's why the word executive is used. It's just because they help us execute our days and they're higher levels thinking skills Higher level mental skills. And the part of our brain that where these skills lie is called the prefrontal cortex, and that's right behind your forehead. So if you tap your forehead, that's the part of the brain that is going to be turned on when you are using your executive function skills. And so from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to sleep, you are using your executive functioning to navigate your day. You and I both have clothes on, so we have some executive functioning going on because we were able to plan for the day. We maybe took a look at the weather and thought like, oh, it's going to be a little chilly today. So, you know, we got to put an extra layer and then, you know, lots of things. We both showed up to record on time today, so we used our time management skills. So there are. There are about eight skills. You can kind of narrow them down to about 8. You can expand them out to about 14, but there's about 8 that we like to think about. And what I was thinking is I could explain them to you while walking through the process of coming up with and then executing a sewing project. How does that sound?
- [04:01]
Carol Frazier
That would be great. I'd love to hear it. Because I do know that most people, when they're sewing, run into roadblocks. They can be all kinds of things. They can be creative, they can be whatever. But I think many times it's some version of an executive function that goes a little bit awry. So, yeah, I'd love to hear this.
- [04:16]
Hannah Choi
Yeah. And something to keep in mind throughout this whole conversation is that people with ADHD or a learning disability or autism may struggle, sort of executive function challenges come along with those diagnoses. You do not have to have a diagnosis to struggle with executive functioning. So stress, very busy lives, stress, trauma, just any kind of distraction can really pull from that front part of our brain and make it difficult to access our executive function skills. So if you're listening and you think like, oh, well, you know, I don't have a diagnosis of anything that would impact my executive function skills, please don't turn off the show because so many of these skills can still be impacted just by the stuff that happens in daily life. So, yeah, so I mostly sew garments. So I thought I'd give this example from a garment sewing perspective. But you can. You can use this for any kind of craft, you know, any kind of project. I mean, it even applies to cooking or anything. But I will tell my little executive function story through the perspective of sewing a garment. So the first skill that you might use when you're coming up with your next project is cognitive flexibility, which is a fancy way of saying flexible thinking. So maybe you're going to try a new pattern, or maybe you're going to attempt to learn a new skill. So you have to imagine this different state that exists where you can sew something like that. And so you might. It's kind of like being brave and thinking, oh, all right, I can imagine myself learning this new skill, or I can imagine myself taking this from a paper pattern or know whatever, however you use your patterns from this format into an actual garment that I can wear or an actual whatever the project is that you're doing. So that flexible thinking is really important. And then there's planning. You need to plan out. So, for example, say you want to make a dress, and your summers are really, really busy, so you can't really plan to make the dress in the summer. You might have to plan to make the dress in the spring. So just thinking ahead, thinking to the future, how am I going to handle this? And that's our planning skill. And then you need to get organized. You need to figure out what notions, tools, fabric that you maybe already have. And hopefully they're nice and organized so you can find them, or at least you know where they are, even if they're not organized. And then deciding what ones to buy so that you're not buying duplicates of things and then cluttering your space even more with things that you already own but you just forgot you had or you didn't take like a little inventory before you went. And then there's impulse control or self control that you need to use to make sure you actually do that before you head to the store. Because you might be like, oh, I'll just figure it out when I get there. And then you get there and you're like, I don't, I don't know, do I have. Do I have bias tape? No, I'll just buy another one. So then you're, you know, spending money that you might not need to spend, that you could use on a future project instead. Or you're just adding more stuff to your already, you know, probably pretty big collection of sewing, sewing supplies. And then you need to pay attention. So you need to pay attention to that notions list. You need to pay attention to the yardage requirements. I have ended up at the store and thought, oh, huh, I forgot to pay attention to the yardage. I don't know how much yard I need. So then I'm like searching on the Internet, trying to figure it out, or looking through all the patterns at the store, trying to figure it out. And that's really frustrating. And then you need to use planning again and time management to figure out, when are you going to do all this sewing? How are you going to fit it in? Maybe think about how long things are going to take. How long does it take for me to cut out the pattern? Can I get this done before I have to leave for work, before I need to go to bed, before my kid wakes up from their nap? So that kind of. That forward thinking comes in. And then also managing your time, thinking about, like, well, how long does it take me to cut out a pattern? I don't know. I've never timed myself. Timing yourself and just kind of getting a sense for how long things. Things take for you. All right, so now you're ready to start sewing. But what if you can't get yourself going? This is a skill called task initiation, and that is the. It's just like another fancy way of saying getting started. So if you cannot get started on the task of sewing, you got to figure out why. Like, why are you struggling? Do you not know where to start? Do you feel a little overwhelmed because you are trying a new skill? So it's a really great idea to just check in with yourself, see how you're feeling about it, see if you can figure out why you're having trouble getting started, and then maybe write out a plan for how you're going to do it. That can. That can be kind of comforting, like, oh, okay, I can do this. And it's written down. I can refer to my plan. And then you'll also want to check in with your own state. How do you feel? Are you hungry? Are you tired? Are you kind of lonely? Do you want to put on some music or a podcast? And so just kind of, you know, make it, like, an optimal situation for you. When do you work best? And then once you get started, you're going to definitely need to pay attention. So I don't know about you, but I have accidentally sewed the waistband on a skirt backwards twice in a row because I was not paying attention. So you really need to pay attention. Need to make sure you don't skip steps. Pay attention to the grain line. There's so many things that you need to pay attention to. Mirror image. Are you making sure that you're cutting? Mirror image? Are you fussy cutting? Are you, you know, are you trying to pattern match? So you just really need to pay Attention to all those little details. If you're folding the fabric, are you making sure that you're folding it in half and the sides are meeting so you're not accidentally cutting one full piece and then half a piece on the back? You know, so all of those things, there's a lot to pay attention to. And then we're going to use a lot of flexible cognitive flexibility again. What if you mess up? Or what if you don't have enough fabric? How can I modify the pattern? Or you have to, you know, pattern fitting. You have to be able to think. Think like, how can I change this pattern to fit my own body? So there's so many things to consider, and it really helps having that flexible thinking. And then you gotta stay organized. You gotta label the pieces as. What if you get interrupted? You gotta make sure you've labeled the front and the back. You know, you have to, you know, keep your workspace clean so you don't. You're not cutting on top of other fabric. And then you accidentally cut the other piece of fabric that wasn't supposed to be under there. You know, if you drop a clip or a pin, you gotta make sure that you pick it up and put it back where it goes. Have everything be kind of easy to put away so that you're more likely to put it away. And then a super important part of all of this is the skill of emotional regulation. Because if you do mess up, you have to. You can't just say, ah, I messed up. I'm done. I'm not going to finish this. I mean, you can say that, but, you know, you've already put all this other work into it. So it'd be really nice to finish the project. Sometimes you have to finish it because it. It's a gift or something. So learning how to control your emotions and kind of breathe through the challenging things, help yourself, set yourself up for success with whatever you do to regulate your emotions. And then the last thing that is really important to remember through all of this is a skill called metacognition. And metacognition is our knowledge of how our own brain works. So you're basically your knowledge about yourself, what works for you, what doesn't work for you. And so when you're done doing the project, you can reflect back on your experience of doing the project and say, well, no wonder that part was really hard. I was sewing right before lunch, and I do not do well when I'm really hungry or, you know, this week was really stressful for work. I had a lot going on. So, you know, I. It was difficult for me to get my mind in a sewing space. Whatever, whatever. Just taking that time to do the reflection is a really useful thing. So that kind of walks you through a project, but also covers all the executive function skills.
- [12:32]
Carol Frazier
Thank you. I have to say that when you spell it out like that, it sounds absolutely exhausting, and it feels like something I would never do. But, you know, I think for many people who sew, a lot of those skills are things that, you know, we do it sort of as a matter of habit, and they're not too tough. But as you say, there can be a day when it's just like, I can't do it. I can't face it. And for me, it would be like a task initiation. I can't make a decision about what I want to sew, or can I even face the idea of clearing my cutting table so that I can decide to begin a project that I otherwise am excited about doing? There's that one obstacle in the way and getting all the way to this business of emotional regulation and metacognition, where you have to look at yourself and go, so it's okay. It's not. It's not that hard to clear that table off. And you can forgive yourself for actually maybe just shoving stuff into a pile and putting it aside for a minute so that you can get started, you know, and then. And then maybe, you know, know that you'll pick it up later when you're feeling a little bit more like that. It's like, you know, in my family, nobody wants to empty the dishwasher, and I've timed myself emptying the dishwasher. It never takes more than five minutes. And when, you know, it's five minutes, it's not that difficult to get to it. But with sewing, a lot of times, as you say, you don't know how long things are going to take or whether it's going to be hard to do it or whatever. You're just kind of launching yourself into a great unknown with a new project. Well, in fact, that was the question I wanted to ask. I mean, is there a value in making the same garment, the same pattern over and over again? I mean, people do it because it is quicker for them and because they know that the fit's going to be good and they like the design, so they're happy to do it. But in terms of dealing with your. Your executive function, or learning it or reinforcing it, is it a good idea to keep on doing the same thing?
- [14:21]
Hannah Choi
Well, I think it really matters. It really matters what you just said about how, you know, how people feel about it. And I think that something that's really important to keep in mind with sewing is that the garments are not going to judge you. They're not going to. I mean, it's like, if we look at it, it's just fabric, right? It's just fabric and threads and some paper. They're just waiting for you. They're waiting for you to try them, but they're not waiting with any judgment. And so, you know, if someone feels comfortable making the same thing over and over again, that's okay. And if that. If that is calming for them and if that is really regulating for them, then that's a great decision to make. If. It's also a great place to start from if you are interested in trying something new. So if you. And that's where we can use that cognitive flexibility. Like, okay, here's this shirt that I have made a lot of, and I really know it really well. I'm really comfortable with it. Maybe I want to try, like, a different sleeve or like a different cuff or a different neckline. That's a great place to start from because there's not that many barriers to entry. Right. You know how to get started. You know, about how long everything is going to take. So here, let's try, you know, cutting the neckline differently or adding or maybe embellishing or adding something. So I think that's a great place to start for people who are not sure, feel more comfortable with something familiar, and then, you know, just modifying something that they have. It's a great way to practice that flexible thinking in a really kind of safe environment.
- [16:00]
Carol Frazier
Right. Like, you don't want to be unconfident about everything in the project you're taking on. I mean, that's. That is true for me. I know that's true for me. I know that there are people who are the opposite. They just get bored with repeating things, and they love to speak everything, but I don't know how that can be. I care too much about what's coming out at the other end.
- [16:19]
Hannah Choi
Yeah. So, yeah. And for people with adhd, so, like I said in the beginning, adhd, one of the sort of defining features of ADHD is executive dysfunction, which is not a great way of saying it. I like to say executive function challenges instead of saying that we're dysfunctional. I have adhd, so I can relate to that. But so novelty is something that is very motivating for many people. With adhd, not everybody. Uh, but novelty can be very motivating. So trying something new that's totally different from what you've done before, uh, might be something to consider. If you have lost your Sewjo and you just can't get into it. Maybe trying something completely new with a completely different skillset is going to be really motivating. It just depends on where you're coming from. And that's that metacognition. Like what kind of, what kind of sewist am I? What kind of, you know, human am I? What, what works for me, what doesn't?
- [17:19]
Carol Frazier
So you're saying that some people really thrive on novelty? Does that, can that also lead to greater frustration? If you take on something that's huge and new and all, everything is different for you. How do you work with that? Do you warn people about that or do you suggest don't do that?
- [17:38]
Hannah Choi
Yeah, so as a coach, working as a coach, a lot of what I do is support people in figuring out what's a realistic amount of work to take on. So at like as I said before, a lot of my clients are college students. So what's a realistic and reasonable amount of work to take on? So that's a good question to ask yourself before you start anything new. Is, is it realistic and reasonable to ask myself to do this project? You know, am, am knowing myself and my, you know, my own talents, but also my limitations. You know, what, what is realistic and reasonable? So getting to know, you know, really reading the, you know, the instructions of the, of the pattern, if you are using an independent designer, maybe you can even email or contact, you know, and ask questions about it. I just, if, if you're taking on a huge thing, I just caution people a little bit on that because you're right. That is, you're, you may be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration. I think there are ways to get novelty without, you know, taking a huge bite.
- [18:51]
Carol Frazier
Yes, I can see that. And sometimes feeling like you're forced to do it like a last minute Halloween costume. Yeah, you know, it's so hard to say no to some of those things. I'm not sure how you handle something like that.
- [19:04]
Hannah Choi
Yeah, that's. Setting boundaries is a really, a really important skill to learn. I mean as kids and also as adults and when you are known to be someone who sews, you know, I mean they don't make that T shirt that says yes I sew and no I won't hem your pants. You know, like they don't make that just to make it like that's a, that's a real thing. As we all have been asked, like, oh, can you just like hem my curtains for me or my pants? So being able to set those boundaries. So for example, I love to make my kids Halloween costumes, but they need to tell me by the end of September what they are going to be. And their, I mean, not to sound strict, but they're not allowed to change. You can't change your mind last minute. That's not fair to me. You know, I need a lot of time. The way that my brain works, I don't function well last minute. So I do need to be able to start ahead of time. So if you decide to take on making gifts for someone or you know, someone asks you to sew something for them, be sure to set that boundary in the beginning. And it can be very difficult depending on your relationship with the person that's asking you. But it's really important because, because as we all know, if you're working on a project that is something that's super frustrating, something that you're not enjoying, that is a killer for your motivation and a killer for your creativity. So it's really important to protect that part of you and to protect that. I mean, it's really special that we know how to sew. It's a special thing. Not everybody does. Not everybody takes the time to learn it. So really honor that part of yourself by setting those boundaries and by learning about yourself and your executive functioning. How do I operate? How does my brain work?
- [20:52]
Carol Frazier
Yeah, and I think setting boundaries with yourself too, not, not creating expectations that are crazy. And nowadays it's very easy to become sort of hooked on some unrealistic expectations and standards based on all the social media that you see and people sewing many garments in a week and that kind of thing. If you can't do it, you just have to say to yourself, nope, that's not for me. I need to find out what is for me and do that.
- [21:19]
Hannah Choi
Yeah, it's so important. I had to unfollow someone that is. She's a beautiful, beautiful, you know, creative person and she just makes these beautiful pieces and she makes, I don't know, two, two garments a week. And I just, that I'm, I'm really happy if I make two in a year. And so for me to see that, it was just, I mean, my self confidence and my self esteem were really taking a hit and so I had to unfollow her. As much as I respected her for my own mental health I had to unfollow her because it was setting up these really unrealistic and really unhealthy expectations.
- [22:01]
Carol Frazier
Yeah. So in terms of executive function, would you think there might be a difference between doing machine sewing, like garment kind of sewing, or doing hand sewing projects, embroidery or anything like that?
- [22:15]
Hannah Choi
Yeah, yeah, that's such a great question. I actually do a lot, I personally do a lot of both. A friend of mine and I teach embroidery lessons and I think it's a lot of it is the same set of skills. You know, you really need to pay attention, you really need to plan things out. What the embroidery and the sort of slow stitching activities, what they, what they really call for is that emotion regulation because you need to be able to really just be mindful of what you're doing, really just relax into it and recognize this is going to take a while. This is more about the journey than the destination, I think. I mean, this is, this is all my opinion. So people might, you know, feel differently about it. But in, in the work that I've done, both as an executive function coach and as a creative person, doing this kind of slow stitching, it does draw on sort of that different part of your brain. It's much slower and it's much more. I feel like you just need to be a little bit more intentional with it and pay attention in a different way. And the other part of it, the other part of that hand work that is so important is the self care. And not only does it give you a lot of really, really great benefits, so when you do something repetitive, our brains really like repetition. That's why music is really nice. Right. It has a lot of patterns in it. And so anything that's repetitive is very calming. It's very, very regulating. So embroidery is a great choice or something like that. It doesn't have to be embroidery, but anything that's really slow is a great choice. You need something really regulating. And when you are kind of feeling like, oh, you know, my emotions are a little bit off. And then the other aspect of it, this is one of my challenges is memory. So I just had this other. Oh, okay. So you also need to take care of your body. So the self care that it gives you, it gives you that regulation. But you also really need to pay attention to your body. So when we're at the sewing machine, you know, we have to pay attention to our posture and how we're lined up with the needle and everything. But you're not there for hours on, you know, on end. I mean, Unless you do it for your profession, you're not there for a really long time. So if you're sitting on the couch and you're kind of in this like squashy position and not really paying attention, and you're staring at your work for hours on end, you really do need to pay attention. Wait a second, I need to move, I need to look up and I need to, you know, just pay attention to what this is doing to my body. So that executive function skill of attention does really come into play there.
- [25:07]
Carol Frazier
If you met someone who clearly had executive function challenges, would you consider recommending learning how to sew as some type of a therapeutic occupational therapy or whatever it would be called practice for them?
- [25:21]
Hannah Choi
Oh, absolutely. I think it is, you know, and a huge reason why I think that is because of what I said in the beginning. How many executive function skills are involved in sewing and how many wonderful opportunities you have to practice them in a super safe environment? You know, I mean, what's the worst that could happen? The worst, worst, worst. Worst that could happen is you could mess up, I guess if you want to call it a mess up on a really beautiful piece of fabric that maybe is vintage and you can't replace it. So I mean, can we think of anything worse than that? I mean, I guess you could accidentally cut your finger off, right? I mean, but, but it's a pretty, pretty safe way of practicing executive function skills. It's also extremely rewarding and satisfying and self confidence building. So when you finally, you know, master a skill or you finally, you know, figure something out that is going to give you the confidence to try something new. And then what's the coolest thing about executive function skills is that they're generalizable. So you might practice your attention skill or your planning skill on your sewing project, but then you can be like, hey, wait a second, when I planned out this project that I had a much better time, you know, finishing the project or just the actual execution of the project, maybe I should do that when I'm planning my wedding or if I'm just planning my week, my meal, my meal plan for the week, or if I'm just even planning my day. Maybe it's worth it to take the time to write it down so you can really generalize the skills. The company that I work for is called Beyond Booksmart and we have this thing that executive function skills are learnable, teachable and applyable. You can apply them to so many different areas of your life and it's just, it's such a great Thing, and that's a big reason why I teach kids how to sew, is because kids naturally struggle with executive functioning because their brains are not fully developed yet. We don't. Our brains don't fully develop. The frontal part of our brain, the front part of our brain doesn't fully develop until we're in our late 20s. So kids just naturally struggle with it. So it's such a fun way to practice all these skills.
- [27:39]
Carol Frazier
Exactly. And at the end, you have something that you've made and you're proud of that, and you can wear it or play with it, or look at how much money you saved over buying it in a store, which a lot of people find to be a really gratifying part of sewing. I know that may sound funny, but I think that a lot of people do look at it that way. Like, I've done a couple things. I've done something sustainable. I've helped the earth. So you can reward yourself with many aspects of what you've done.
- [28:07]
Hannah Choi
Yeah. And a little bit of what I brought up before is also the reason why it's so important to really be involved in what you're doing is so that you, you know, if you're looking at it from a financial aspect standpoint, you don't want to. You want to pay attention so that you're not spending all this extra money on supplies you don't need or fabric you don't need, because then you're able to use that money for, you know, buying more fabric that you will use or something. So these skills really do come into literally every aspect of it.
- [28:43]
Carol Frazier
Yeah. So some of the people that I know who have ADHD have been diagnosed with it. Talk about being hyper focused on various things. Can you talk a little bit about that and how that might play into this too?
- [28:55]
Hannah Choi
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So one feature of ADHD is something that is very interesting and very rewarding can lead to you hyper focusing on it and getting into that sort of flow state really easily. A lot of people think of ADHD as a attention deficit. So there's not enough attention. What it really is is difficulty putting the attention in the areas that need it and not necessarily just the areas that you want to put it towards. So. And it all has to do with neurotransmitters in the brain. ADHD is something that happens in your brain. It's not a choice. It is not a learned thing. You can be impacted by our environment and today's environment absolutely makes everybody feel like they have a little bit of adh. Adhd. But if you truly have adhd, then it's some challenges in certain areas of your brain, including neurotransmitter levels. Maybe you've heard of dopamine. And another one is norepinephrine. And those two neurotransmitters are what help you when you want to or when you need to focus on something. And so because the levels of them are and the systems that are, it's kind of complicated. And I think you said your husband is a neuroscientist, so if we had him on here, you could probably get into the whole explanation of it. But. And I could too, but it would take a while. I. Those systems and those neurotransmitters either make it really easy to hyper focus on something you really want to do or nearly impossible to focus on something that you don't want to do. So it's tricky.
- [30:45]
Carol Frazier
Yeah. And you know, I really, I really get that. And you mentioned that in this, in today's environment. I read an article probably seven or eight years ago about sort of acquired adhd, and it was, it was kind of interesting. It's like a lot of people who really aren't diagnosable with ADHD have many, many of the markers of it when they go to work or when they're trying to just function, generally because they're so interrupted so often and expected to, you know, turn on a dime in so many ways. And then when I think about people who say, I like sewing, I go to it. It's my safe space because they go into their little sewing area and they know that people are probably not going to bother them and they can reactivate all of those executive function steps along the way. Whether you have ADHD or not, you at least can reclaim some order in your thought process and your ability to get something done. And there you go. Maybe that gives you some. A dopamine hit.
- [31:39]
Hannah Choi
Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. So much of what we do just drains our brains of dopamine. And so it makes it harder to be motivated to do things. And so when you find something, anything, whether it's sewing or anything, that is really, really enjoyable and nourishing and gives you that nice hit of dopamine, then it can kind of replenish that. And that's why it does feel so good. It feels so good when you find something, whether you have ADHD or not. I mean, that's, you know, that dopamine makes you want to continue doing whatever it is that's giving you that dopamine hit. So if it's something that's, you know, not necessarily helpful for you, maybe scrolling on T TikTok. I mean, all that, all that screen stuff is designed to make you want to keep doing it. I mean, everything about it is designed to do that. So how great is it that sewing, not only do you get to create something that you can use, but it's naturally and in a more healthy, helpful way giving you that dopamine hit that your brain does crave.
- [32:48]
Carol Frazier
There we go. That's why we do this, people.
- [32:51]
Hannah Choi
That's right.
- [32:54]
Carol Frazier
It's fun and it's healthy.
- [32:56]
Hannah Choi
Good for our brains.
- [32:57]
Carol Frazier
Yeah, exactly.
- [32:59]
Hannah Choi
And something else that I just want to bring up is really good for your self confidence. And you mentioned that a little bit just before. Like, you know, when you make something and then you get to wear it and then someone says, oh, I love your, you know, I love your whatever and you can say thanks, I made it like that. That is such a confidence builder. And for so many people who have struggled their whole life with executive function challeng, their confidence has taken hit after hit after hit. And so to find something that gives you something, some of that back, I mean, it can be life changing for people.
- [33:34]
Carol Frazier
Yes. I mean, I have noticed that with people that I know with adhd, not necessarily from sewing, but from other things where. And actually getting an adult diagnosis in one particular case and discovering that all the things that were so hard from her when she was younger were not a failing of her character or laziness or lack of intelligence or any of those things. It was just the way her brain was working. And when she learned that and was able to, you know, get treated, she became almost a different person. I mean, actually the person that I always liked and loved, but the person who was kind of struggling to get out of that, you know, oh, I can't do anything right, shell.
- [34:13]
Hannah Choi
So yeah, and then she can love herself more. And that was my personal experience. I mean, I was just, I was late diagnosed and it changed my life finding that out. And it helped me explain so much and it helped me love myself more and it helped me just have more compassion with myself. And also I think it really helps the people that, you know, if you don't have adhd, but you love someone who does and you support someone who does or you work with someone who does. Just understanding their perspective and understanding where they're coming from, why those things are hard. They're not choosing for them to be hard. Try, trust me, trust me. We are not choosing to make all these things hard, you know, but they are. And so that's why when you find something that really works for you and gives you an opportunity to practice executive function skills. I mean, I'll talk up and down about how sewing is, you know, I mean, if it's your thing, then, you know, get what you can out of it because it's just going to. It's a gift that keeps on giving whether you have ADHD or not.
- [35:18]
Carol Frazier
Exactly. Well, this has been so helpful and enlightening for me, Hannah. I'm sure our readers, our listeners, rather, will also learn things that maybe they hadn't heard or have confirmed for them. Things that they've already known, which is also wonderful. I love the idea of sewing being an activity that welcomes anybody of any kind of, you know, neuro state.
- [35:41]
Hannah Choi
That's right.
- [35:42]
Carol Frazier
And that they can. And that they can enjoy themselves and feel good about themselves. Thank you so much for joining me today.
- [35:48]
Hannah Choi
Oh, you're so welcome. I really love talking about this.
- [35:51]
Carol Frazier
Thanks so much for being here with us and thank you all for listening. Please remember to send your comments, questions and suggestions to threadsmagazine.com and please, like, comment and subscribe wherever you are listening. Until next time, keep on sewing with threads.