I am a doctor who spins...
...yes, with a spinning wheel, that colonial-era wooden thing that spins flax into gold.
...yes, I transform wool from a sheep into yarn.
...yes, yarn, the stuff you knit hats and scarves with.
I am a spinner who doctors...
...yes, a healer who took the Hippocratic Oath.
...yes, a pediatrician charged and entrusted with the health and well-being of young people.
...yes, it is at times the stuff of life and death.
I've always found it troublesome to blend these seemingly separate lives of mine, maintaining a split multiple personality of sorts. The doctor personality would be concerned with science/medicine/growth charts/appointments; later, as in the case of Jekyll and Hyde, the spinner personality would pursue wool breeds/yarn gauge/plying/doll hair... and art.
For years, those two distinct personas lived within me side-by-side, coexisting peacefully, the one barely aware of the other. Until my close friend Natalie led me to the epiphany that not only was that boundary unnecessary, it was not even there. That the personality traits which I regularly apply to my practice of medicine (study, diligence, ethics, personal care), were also responsible for my successful study and execution of spin technique and the diligence with which I run my Etsy fiber art business.
Think about this, if you feel like a divided person in your daily life: whether knitter-CEO; artist-police officer; dancer-physician... you are the sum of all your talents and experience, which flow into everything you do and everyone you touch. The sooner you embrace it all, the more complete you will feel.
Laura: Rainbow Twist Shop on Etsy
So very true!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Ardis!
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ReplyDeleteWe are the "sum" of our parts. Well said Dr. Spin :)
ReplyDeleteThank you~ it took me many years to realize that!
DeleteI love this Laura. I can't wait to read more. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support Carolyn.
DeleteLaura you are a very expressive writer and I love the way you present information, I plan on following your blog:)
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you, I appreciate your kind words.
DeleteHydrogeologist-Spinner
ReplyDeleteBeen asking myself, do these inform each other or come from the same single place.
Love the post, love the locks of yours in my stash.
Hi Andrea, it's a good question, I think the range of human potential is so wide in each of us.
DeleteSo happy to have found your blog! Following.
ReplyDelete:) so true Laura - it is also about balance within the person that is achieved by seemingly opposite "personalities" - it works for me, too :) - hello from Maja, Iceland
ReplyDeleteHi Maja, I look forward to exploring this more in person, in ICELAND!!!
DeleteHello Laura, nice to see that you start blogging. :-)
ReplyDeleteFollowing from the Netherlands. Gr. Sandra
Hi Sandra, thanks for following from afar!
DeleteIt is truly a wondrous thing when we can reconcile our secret selves and bring them out together into the sunlight. You will show us what colors a rainbow + a doctor can make! Love you.
ReplyDeleteMy dear sister, love you. You know all my secret selves.
DeleteGlad to see another way to follow my fiber friend! I admire your talent! Mary (Fiber Creek Farm)
ReplyDeleteThanks as always Mary! I feel the same about you :)
DeleteWell said my friend and colleague... Seeing you do what you do is inspiring me to go beyond my pediatrician self and beyond the "art" of medicine and explore other "art" that's so different yet so me.... I hope I can do with as much finesse as you. You are a super cool person.
ReplyDeleteAwww thanks dear Ami. I look forward to seeing where your interests take you~ go for it!
ReplyDeleteAs a physical therapist I find it very interesting that there are many in the medical profession that are spinners. It's as if we need to use both sides of our brains to have balance. Or is it that we deal with illness and death on a daily basis that we need to have color, life and creativity in our lives to fill us up with joy and life. Great writings Laura :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary, and very well said. I think both are true and so necessary, I love the part about balance. Thanks for your comment!
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