Knitting Slump: A Sock Story with a Happy Ending

What keeps knitters motivated? Join me as I share all the ways I have *not been motivated* in the hopes of finding a joyful path forward.

From tackling the friendly challenge of knitting 12 pairs of socks in a year to admitting to knitting two sweaters in a month as a form of procrastination, this episode gets candid about the ups and downs of my knitting journey, and quite possibly something you may have experienced, too.
Discover the magic of turning leftover fiber bits into cheerful mini skeins and the joy that comes with the act of creation. I'll also share tips on mindful knitting projects, the satisfaction of weaving in yarn ends, and how knitting can serve as a powerful tool for personal growth. As we celebrate the remarkable nature of hand-knit socks, I offer heartfelt encouragement for knitters everywhere to find value and motivation in each stitch. Tune in and feel the warmth of our knitting community.

Looking for pictures and videos of what I am sharing? HEAD HERE and DISCOVER MORE!  https://encouragebetter.com/blog/handspunsocks

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello friend, as previously mentioned in an earlier episode, for whatever reason, kodiak Island has decided not to participate in spring or summer, and while many knitters are showcasing linen tank tops being knit poolside in the sun, I am writing and talking to you now at my desk here wearing woolly, hand knit socks, wool trousers, a fleece undershirt. Underneath my Tecumseh sweater, which is on top I'm wearing a bright fuchsia Carhartt hat, and also there is a fire on in my fireplace. It is the beginning of July. Now, instead of complaining, which I am precariously close to doing, I am trying to keep focused on creating things that feel soft and warm and joyful.

Speaker 1: 1:15

After my last happy knit in a round wooly, worsted weight yarn, which was the Felix cardigan, and in the previous episode as well, well, I decided to head in a different direction with my next cast on and I spun some sock yarn. Before you think I was in sock yarn deficit, with nothing in stash, I should offer a clarification. If I live to be 312 years old, doing nothing else with my time here on earth than knit socks, I will still have very much sock yarn to bestow upon my loved ones who survive me. I should also be clear about my TBK sock pile, and just as I have a TBR pile of books which is to be read, tbk and the sock TBK pile is. It's crazy. I kind of need to pause for an either further, even further clarification or maybe a defense, I don't know. You see, I have more than 18 single socks on needles. When I got to number 18, I actually stopped counting, and so the obvious question is why did I not pick up one of those instead of spinning more sock yarn for a new pair of socks? Now, there are many of you I can actually hear right now hollering at me, so I will stop and address the elephant in the room, because I know those folks are saying Mel. That is not the obvious question here. So, all right, all right, captain. Obvious is asking Captain Obvious is asking why are there so many socks on needles? I was actually trying to avoid that one, but there probably is no other way to quiet some of you, my dear friends, than to explain, and so I'm going to share that explanation with you, then to explain, and so I'm going to share that explanation with you, and that way I'll be able to get to the real point of my story today, which is the discussion to be had about hand spun, hand knit socks. And that, my friend, is a topic I really want to explore, and so I'm going to pause momentarily to answer the question why so many socks? And I hear others yelling how so many socks?

Speaker 1: 4:13

So the TBK sock pile came to me this way because I said to a friend that I could knit 12 pairs of socks before the end of the year. I could knit 12 pairs of socks before the end of the year. It's that sort of kind of challenge now between us. And, yes, there is a small wager attached. So the socks would have to be newly cast on after the 1st of January and finished with ends woven in by the last minute on New Year's Eve. They had to be socks in my size. No baby socks allowed and no knitting a pair for my husband and then trying to claim it as two pairs because they were so big, because I know for me I actually might try that angle. So socks my size only, and that should be a huge motivation. Right, self-imposed, friend-approved, required selfish knitting. They would have to actually be an actual pair, and by actual pair I mean we worked through a few other pair excuse me, today my mouth.

Speaker 1: 5:37

We worked out some other parameters to define a pair. So I could make opposites attract types of pairs, or I can make two siblings from the same skein sort of pairs, and so I should probably define those opposites attract Like I could make um, using two different colorways. I could make the same sock pattern, like color A sock, right foot, color B sock, left foot, and even though they're different colors, they're the same pattern and they match. Check, that's one the other one. When I say two siblings from the same sort of pairs, meaning they could look similar but be a bit different from the same skein. So, excuse me, I could maybe make a cable patterned sock out of the skein A and out of skein A I could also make Hermione's everyday sock, so the colorway would be the same but the socks would be different. Does that make sense? I hope it does. I'll explain further. You know what? I'll make a separate blog post that explains all about the different ways socks can be pairs of socks. And so to include you in on this because, my friend, it's supposed to be you and I connecting, not just me talking how about you share with me the most interesting pair of socks that you've knit? You can define what pair means and send that on to me. All right, but now I'm digressing from my initial digression, so let me try to get back.

Speaker 1: 7:42

12th pair didn't seem daunting in January. I mean, if you take time and you break it down, 24 socks is one sock every two weeks. So basically two socks in a month. Is that right? I'm hoping I'm doing the math correctly because it's making sense initially. Yeah, 12 months. If I do two socks each month, that's a pair. That's 12 pair. Yeah, no big deal.

Speaker 1: 8:15

In February, in February of this year, I knit two sweaters for myself, so they were adult sized sweaters for myself. So they were adult sized. One was sport weight and the other was a color work fingering weight, so not not huge bulky yarns. And since you and I have this type of friendship, I'm going to be transparent. I knit both of those sweaters as procrastinates. And so, before you shake your head and sigh, I know some of you will actually cast on a new project just to get out of knitting a current work in progress that you have. And so I'm not alone in this. There is such a thing as procrastinating. Now, on January 15th, I was all oh my gosh, are you kidding, this is not even going to be hard. I am just like absolutely going to win this bet. That's where my mindset was. That's where my mindset was. I realized on the 31st of January that the challenge was going to be my downfall. What is it with the little tubes? I knit two sweaters in one month just to avoid working on them. So in the month of January, I cast on three pair of striped socks. Now the yarns and the colors are amazing.

Speaker 1: 9:49

I love self-stripe yarn. After a few days of knitting each, they somehow got tucked into a bag, and then they would be put into a bigger bag, and then that bag would be put into a bigger bag, and then that bag would be inside my beautiful woven basket that I usually have in the living room to keep things that I'm actively working on. And then they moved into a closet in the guest bedroom and there they remained until I pulled them out yesterday for the SOC census that I took to report to you, and even the census is not completed. I did mention that I stopped at 18, right? So there were three self-striping? Well, there's three counted self-striping. Well, wait, no, no, there actually are four. So I'm looking at my notes now, um, there are four self-striping socks and then, uh, number five. I cast on a pair of socks that were inspired by Annie, the owner of the Far North Yarn Company in Anchorage, which is kind of a local-ish yarn shop for me. She was knitting.

Speaker 1: 11:09

I believe this is the correct one. I will link all the things. If you go to the show notes, there'll be a supporting blog post that's going to have images and links to anything I mention. So don't feel like you have to. I mean, obviously, search Ravelry, google it if you want to while you're listening. But if you're actually going to swipe up and do anything while you're listening, here's what I'd like to invite you to do. You can if you've got your player on I know this for a fact for Apple podcasts, maybe for Spotify. If you're listening on anything other than Apple Podcasts, I invite you. I welcome you. I eagerly hope that you can send me an email or a voice message or just a regular message they're linked in the show notes as well and just send me what happens if you do try to like swipe up on your phone as you're listening.

Speaker 1: 12:09

Now, I know some of you are busy. I had a wonderful listener tell me that she listens to the podcast while she's ironing. So hello to you and thank you for listening while you iron. I'm glad I can keep you company, but I'd love to know what happens as you're listening. And I am inviting this part. I'm interrupting my interruption of my interruption to encourage you to make this podcast as much about your creative journey as my creative observations. That's the goal of this podcast. It's to encourage better knitting, not just for me but for you, and not just by me but by you. So if you swipe up in the show notes, you'll see a link and you can reply or you can go and visit that.

Speaker 1: 13:07

But there's also the opportunity in Apple podcast and this is where I'm encouraging you to go build community or you can either click on to leave a review and I'm going to go ahead and say it now. If you cannot leave an honest five-star review with you know writing some reasons why you're giving that five-star review. If there's something holding you back from giving this podcast a five-star review, definitely reach out to me. First, I encourage feedback. You may be noticing something about this podcast the format, the setup, the sound, something and I may not even have that on my radar. So if we're going to be in community with one another. I want to make sure that the level of our community is excellent and if it's not, share with me, help me improve it. So you can leave a review or you can hit there's a little button, it's like a little square with an arrow out, and you can actually send this podcast by way of text, by way of email all sorts of different ways to a fellow creative friend or somebody that you think might just like 20 minutes sitting around hearing about creativity. So that will actually build community. You build community and my goal is to help. So all of the links, all of the things that I share or I reference again, are linked in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 14:42

So, annie, back to Annie, that's what I was talking about. Annie is in Anchorage, which is a 45, 47 minute flight from here on my island, and when I visited her early in the year, and when I visited her early in the year, she was knitting my girl Friday socks. It's a really cute pattern, lots of lacy, eyelet things happening in it and something that never in a million years would I initially be drawn to. But there was her pattern and there was her sock start on the counter and it was in this stunning blue, the sky blue, soft blue yarn. So since she didn't have any more of that in stock, I bought the same yarn in a pink color because, no joke, I don't own a single pair of pink socks, not a one. And I thought you know what, if I'm going to be, if I'm going to be stretching and doing different things anyway, I might as well stretch fully. So I worked the cuff Truly. It took me about three times before being satisfied. I had to make some adjustments. Um, I'm currently on round seven, past the cuff portion. No, I am not doing two socks at a time, I'm doing one sock at a time.

Speaker 1: 16:10

I use double pointed needles. I love them. I have a bunch of pairs of double pointed needles. Obviously, um, if I'm actively working on these, sometimes I will use um circulars. I've got some um signature needles which sadly I don't believe signature arts needles are in business any longer. But I use the green ones. I have several um, I have several double pointed needle sets from them, but I also have quite a few of their cabled ones.

Speaker 1: 16:45

If again, community, if you have any suggestions, my cables are getting a bit aged and so they're stiff. It's not as if when you you steam them, when you first get them and how they're very pliable, you can tell they've been around for a while and they're not as bendable, soft, malleable whatever that word is for you know flowing gently from one to the other needle point or shaft. The cable is attached. It's not a one that you can change in and out. If you have any recommendations to caring for them or just kind of giving them a little bit more life, I'd love to hear those.

Speaker 1: 17:37

So, anyways, I am doing these one at a time. I am currently on the seventh, maybe the eighth round, past the cuff portion. So if you want to knit the sock with me, do do let me know and we can start a group because, um, don't worry, you're going to catch up to me in no time flat. So that one's number five. You know, I'm actually going to text Annie right now and see where she is and I'm going to keep you posted on her response to see whether or not. Oops, sorry, that's me reaching for things while I'm talking to you. All right, so that's number five. Um, number six and number second, or? Oh, my goodness, these are decadent cast ons.

Speaker 1: 18:25

So I have another friend. I love how, in knitting, all of the people that we come into contact can be our friend. Um, I say Stephanie's my friend. I actually enjoyed her mini skeins so much. My very first video podcast I'll see if I can find that and link that. Too Many years ago, 12, no, it has to be more than 12, maybe 13 years ago, when we were in Hawaii my first video podcast I held up her mini skein bundles and I talked about how fun they were for me as a treat.

Speaker 1: 19:09

I had been going through a lot personally with losing the use of my left arm and being, um, just being in need of something that would make me feel good. And her little yarns satisfied that, and after getting a couple of things from her, I just I reached out to her. I sent her an email thanking her and a friendship struck up from that. Uh, in much the same way it's not just always me reaching out One of my dearest friends. Her name is Chloe and she is in Scotland. Um, she reached out to me from an email that I sent years ago. She listened to the podcast off and on, but she was very excited about reading emails I sent and reading the blog and she reached out to me and we struck up a friendship. We went back and forth by email so much that finally I was like, hey, let's hop on WhatsApp. And so we did.

Speaker 1: 20:21

I'm sharing that with you because when I mentioned that Stephanie from Space Cadet Yarn is a dear person in my sphere of friendly acquaintances and actually friends, it didn't just happen, and sometimes the best things don't just happen. We work for them, we make that effort and so strike up that conversation, reach out in that way that makes you wonder you know how does this look? And have that thought for a second. And if that how does this look? Is answered by it looks like you're excited about something that the person is doing, that you're actually engaging with someone intentionally, from a place of kindness and love and interest and community, then have the thought for a second, feel the awkwardness and just go with it. That's, that's my suggestion.

Speaker 1: 21:23

So back to Stephanie. She recently closed her shop and she had a wonderful sale to celebrate her decision, which she wanted everyone to see as a positive and so positive, and so I grabbed several skeins of her Aurora fingering weight, which I believe has 20 or 30 percent cashmere, I don't remember which. I don't have that yarn in front of me right this second, and it makes for decadent foot apparel. So for those, oh my gosh, I'm so excited about those. It's a gift to myself to be knitting these. And I knit, or I didn't knit, I'm knitting. I cast on the Hibernal sock pattern, and that's by Summer Lee, and I also cast on one called Petty Harbor, and she spells it Harbor H-A-R-B-O-U-R, the English, the British English way, and that is by Raina Curtis. So Petty Harbor is a free pattern and hibernal costs $5.

Speaker 1: 22:39

Now, summer's patterns are very well written, with a lovely conversational tone, and definitely worth skipping a latte at the local coffee shop to offset the purchase. And I know I do this. So am I the only one that uses knitting math? I will look and see if I want this. You know I could just do this to have that. So it's, you know it's an easier yes, okay, anyways, both of those socks were off to a soft cashmere infused decadent start, infused decadent start. And there at the start they remain right. Okay, staying on the summer, summerly bandwagon for a moment or two more.

Speaker 1: 23:29

Our friends socks eight, nine, ten, 11 and 12, wow, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are also begun in patterns by her, with the two closest to completion being among them. So number eight is Cider House Socks, and they're knit in a homespun house sock yarn and it was a set and it has, um, an additional yarn, um, from skein yarn, which, that is, deep stash. My friends, hold on, I'm going to turn my ringer on silence. Sorry, my watch keeps um, my watch keeps going off. Sorry about that. Okay, what was I talking about? So, oh, the skein yarn. Uh, the skein yarn is from deep stash and in this example, I told myself using deep stash will be incredibly effective to just move me forward and getting these socks done and then off the needles. It's the sock that I've designated as closest to the finish line, or cast off edge, if you like, almost one point to Gryffindor.

Speaker 1: 24:44

So number nine, on the has potential hand knit sock list, is my modified scattered pearls sock from Summer's Hello Sailor sock set. Now, this is a purchase pattern. It's $7 and it has multi sock patterns in it. Um, or it's a multi sock pattern because there are four different patterns that are all inspired by, I believe, just nautical things. Um, my version, when complete, of this scattered pearls is going to have the textured leg portion instead of the afterthought heel. I am actually now working on the heel flap to transition. The texture is only going to be on top of the foot as opposed to all the way around, and I'm going to do stockinette on the bottom. So it sounds good. Huh, it will be when I'm done.

Speaker 1: 25:39

All right, socks 10, 11, and 12 are all from Summer's first book, the Sock Project, and it's a book that made me laugh out loud so many times and I know I know you're thinking it's a sock knitting book, mel, but really that's just a disguise. I think it's a book that lets me remember how fun it was to be a kid when I was a kid, with a bunch of sock advice and patterns tossed in. To round all of that out, you know I'm going to reach out to Summer and see if she'll visit the podcast to chat about knitting. You can send her, if you're on Instagram and you follow her, send her a message to support this idea. Okay now sock 13 is wonderful. It is a wonderful, wonderful knitting adventure and I'm looking at it right here in my lap.

Speaker 1: 26:32

I brought it out. I'm glad I picked it up to keep me company while we chat and to also act as a beautiful small lap blank it. And there's your hint, friend this sock is being knit from a sock blank which, until a couple years ago, I was clueless as to what that was or how that worked. And to help you not be stymied and at a loss like I was, I'm just going to describe it as it is. And it's such a lovely and interesting way to prepare yarn. So the blank is a segment of knitted fabric and it's like a machine knit blank and it's about oh, I guess eight it might be stretched out a little bit because I'm using it eight, ten, maybe twelve inches wide and at least 30 inches long, and it arrives to the dyer as a true blank canvas.

Speaker 1: 27:44

And then this dyer, who I was using the this one that is on my needles currently is from hedgerow yarn. So hedgerow um, um, I think it's hedgerow yarns. She's she's in the UK, so I know the brand is hedgerow, hedgerow yarn, and I don't know her email address or her website address off the top of my head to share with you, but I do know it's h-e-d-g-e-r-o-w. Hedgerow, um, she worked her magic on this and basically you're dyeing the fabric with swirls and speckles. On this one of magenta, of spruce, there's cobalt and lime and a soft, beautiful rose color.

Speaker 1: 28:37

So imagine a long towel like thing with fun colors painted on it and it has like a little dangling loose end. And the loose end is the starting point for fun. You tug it a bit and then the blank begins to unravel. It unknits as you knit your sock or whatever you're knitting. I'm knitting a sock, it's a sock blank, right? The blank is a merino nylon, dk weight and ever so smushy, like I'm here squeezing it. I don't know if you can hear me squeezing it. So, as I'm trying to accurately describe it to you, I am confused as to why I haven't gotten much further on this, because it is so enjoyable. You pull, pull, pull Like right now I'm pulling the working yarn and the knitted row of the blank is going pop, pop, pop, pop, and so as the material of the blank shrinks and the stitches come off, the stitches come together, creating new rounds on this and the sock is growing. So the one disappears and, like magic, the other one reappears, and it's definitely a visual illustration of balance, or like a dues and balance sheet. I may actually get back to this one. This is. I may just stick with this one, okay, all right.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Number 14,. I have knit this pattern six or seven times over the last dozen years and it is socks on a plane by Laura Lineman. Um, they are toe up with a simple cable detail on the outer or pinky side of the sock. Simple cable detail on the outer or pinky side of the sock. These are a free pattern on Ravelry with I know over 5,000 projects made from this. My first pair was knit in string theory yarn, the caper base in a wonderful, wonderful green, and I loved every stitch of them. I still have one of the original socks left Maybe I'll take a picture and put it on the blog and it's tucked away in my knitting memory box which is a literal box, not a metaphor and I looked back into my journal from 2012 to prepare, as I was talking to this, to talk to you about this.

Speaker 1: 31:27

I enjoyed reading about this project. They were my first ever pair of socks and my entry about the day I finished them and we went to a beach in Poipu with it was just not just me, it was my whole family to get pictures of my finished socks. So I wore wool socks on a beach in Kauai, hawaii, in June, just to get pictures because I was so proud. Get pictures because I was so proud. And now all of these ones here that I brought in here, piled around me, are looking at me asking like, what is the problem If you love socks so much? What's going on here? All right, to make a long sock sob story shorter and to answer the question, I am going to skip over the four remaining socks here in this pile and tell you about these socks. Oh, my goodness, these socks. I will come back and recap the remaining socks in progress later, but let me tell you how I catapulted, like out of the sock slump the embargo on a pair of finished socks knitting to finish a pair in record time for me and feel lots of great, great feelings.

Speaker 1: 32:54

So now I don't know how long we've been talking, but let's go back to the start of the story and the whole purpose of this podcast. So picture a wet, wet, wet few days. Now extend that to weeks. Imagine if the main characters of the cat in the hat were me, both of them, me and me staring at the window. Both of them, me and me, staring out the window, out the window, in the rain, on that cold, wet day and the cat comes and disrupts the boredom, supplanting the ho-hum with holy cow.

Speaker 1: 33:33

So some time ago not sure exactly why I determined that these little bits of scrappy fibers from these braids that I had left over. I said I was going to spin these leftover bits of yarn One day. I was going to spin them when I had time One day I was going to make wonderful singles plied together, and fully use these leftovers. Some of them were just like little bits that I had torn off when I was making nests to spin and I just forgot about them. And I get to the end and there's a little bit left. So, aside they went. Others, for whatever reason.

Speaker 1: 34:18

The one day arrived right and out came these little nests of fiber, none of them more than 10 grams, I don't think any of them were over 10 grams and so instead of spinning all of these into a long, continuous single, I determined that I could spend, I could spin each one and make my own mini skein of sock yarn, right. So I spun thin, I spun intentionally, I spun a wee little bit onto the bobbin, onto the bobbin, and then I, navajo, plied it right away and made myself a little ball. It's such cute little balls, oh my gosh, they're so adorable. Now, other times I just spun a little bit thicker and I made two tiny singles on bobbins and then I barber pulled them together for plying them and this little pile of sock yarn balls grew and grew and so once I weighed them and I had a hundred grams, I cast on, and so that cast on that first evening the cuff was started and then the leg was worked and I got all the way to the heel flap and every single stitch lifted my heart until my heart and my brain were in the exact same place. I was so proud seeing the work of my hands creating a sock. I mean, it was such a good feeling.

Speaker 1: 35:56

I was taking these little bits and bobs of scrappy leftovers and they were made into just such cheerful little mini skeins and now into a monster sock. And I'm using the word monster because I remember someone on Instagram when, using the hashtag insta knit or hashtag insta knit night. Someone was calling her scrappy socks that like a Franken monster sock, and it struck me as a fun way to identify them because they weren't really striped socks. There wasn't a pattern of, you know, five rows this color, four rows, this color. It wasn't an intentional striped sock.

Speaker 1: 36:44

These were created by pulling together random amounts of yarns and segmented, not striped, and that's what I was doing. So the incredible thing that happened as I knit each and every stitch was this shift of awareness, this shift in appreciation. My friend, a spotlight was now illuminating each little stitch I made. I was admiring them and even more I was pausing to like stretch out the next few inches of yarn soon to be used. I was twirling it through my fingertips and admiring just what I had made the yarn. Not just what I was making, but what I made to make what I was making. How's that for really digging in? So, rather than focusing my attention on what was to come, the finished sock I was aware of what was happening in real time, each and every stitch that I was enjoying.

Speaker 1: 37:53

Right Now, though, it sounds like I spent ages basking in a love fest for each and every stitch. I wound up flying through these socks. I was eager to see how the hand spun, would knit up, and, despite loving each stitch of the color I was working with at the time, it was still so rewarding to finish the bit of yarn, that little bit up, and then be left with this delightful problem of choosing which to use now. So a quick pro tip to share, which I learned years ago, not for socks, but it turns out it's 100% applicable to socks, and that tip is one of weaving in the ends of the yarn. As I go, I'll do the legwork for you and I'll add a link for that very technique. So if you're listening to this podcast episode, you know you don't have to worry about that. I'll get you that link.

Speaker 1: 38:57

Okay, so hand spun socks, hand knit socks a huge, happy success. Now, does that mean the others aren't, or weren't? I don't think so. What I do think is like a process knitter, perhaps a bit more than an outcome knitter. That's fulfilling to me, and at least when it comes to socks, or at least when it comes to socks right now. I do love a good mindless knit where I can flick my switch for autopilot and not even glance at what my hands are doing, so long as they're just being kept steadily and rhythmically moving. It helps my brain think if my hands are doing stuff. But I'm going to admit to you, I prefer that mindless knitting or autopilot knitting to be done with a stockinette stitch raglan sweater. That is my knitting at the movies project.

Speaker 1: 40:08

I love that, the small, intentional project that is a hand knit sock. Well, my friend, that may need to be a focused opportunity for me, something somewhere I can direct my attention and see growth and progress and developments. It's a place that I can't help but notice that I am remarkable, that knitting is remarkable, am remarkable that knitting is remarkable, that this activity that I share in common with you, is remarkable and very much well for this season anyway. It needs to be a place that I notice my sock knitting, needs to be a place that I notice this remarkable-ness. It may not be true for another completed sock pair or two, you know, maybe that's when it ends, but it is a noticeable mile marker for me right now where I am, and so I'm going to wrap up this second pair of hand knit socks, second pair of hand knit socks in 10 days, and maybe I'm going to carry this sock knitting mojo back to my to be knit pile.

Speaker 1: 41:43

I'm already pretty stoked about this sock blank project right now, and the yarn is thick enough that I could work it up in no time flat. Not that that fact should be what motivates me. I mean, didn't I just spend all this time chatting with you about being motivated by something else? That speed isn't the motivation. Oh my gosh, who am I? I can't, even, I can't, even. Oh my goodness. Well, my friend, I hope that I am somebody that you can trust to cheer you on in your knitting and even more, I hope that you can trust me when I say you are such an amazing human, created intentionally and with joy, and that, wherever you are in this world, I hope that the sun is shining on you and that you realize how valuable you are.