Purposefully be bad at something.

I recently heard on a podcast that you are meant to be terrible at your hobbies. The idea behind it is if you are trying for perfectionism, high quality, an end result, that’s no longer a hobby and probably a potential career path, side hustle, revenue stream. To be a true hobby means you are meant to be truly terrible at it. The sole purpose is to give your brain, your hands, your nervous system something to do that isn’t a screen to calm you, to be a creative outlet, to maybe even spark some joy in your inner child.


I know my perfectionism stops me from trying to not only pursue hobbies but stick with them. Afraid you are terrible at painting? Drawing? The piano or guitar? Knitting? Writing? Who cares! Just get creative and do it for the sake of doing it rather than being good at it. It is a wonderful act of humbling to learn how to be bad at something. Sit in that discomfort and just be.


May April bring you more sunshine than spring flowers and moments of creative joy!

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This month, 20% of our proceeds will be contributed to Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq.


Since 2003, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq has represented a non-compromising feminist voice to challenge the growing patriarchal, tribal and religious institutions gaining ground in Iraq and to combat the rise of the misogynistic groups like ISIS. They are anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and staunchly feminist.


The operate by: 1) immediately protecting and empowering individual women through shelters and safe houses to help them rebuild their lives while training those who are interest in becoming feminist leaders, 2) shifting social norms by producing media content to shift public attitudes towards opposing patriarchy and supporting women’s rights, and 3) reforming the legal system by monitoring, documenting and raising awareness to change laws, practices and policies that compromise women’s safety, freedom and dignity.


All these components of their work are interdependent on each other in the effort to redress the extensive violence against the women of Iraq.


In 1998, a group of Iraqi women met in Toronto under the name “Defense of Iraqi women’s Rights” and devised a mandate for defending Iraqi women’s rights from being fully aborted by the growing extremist patriarchal practices in Iraq since the US sanctions in 1991. The subsequent 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq was a shocking moment of urgency that compelled one of the program organizers, Yanar Mohammed, to travel to Iraq and found OWFI. In June 2003, they launched their founding event in Al Hiwar Art Gallery in Baghdad’s Al Waziriya neighborhood. Eventually, they registered with the coalition provisional authorities as NGO 567.


Please visit their website to learn more of their brave and important work: https://www.owfiraq.org/

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