I’m not what they call “crafty.”

I have no interest and no talent to do any craft and am seldom tempted to take any of the classes that abound in our area.Yet, when I covered an event at a pottery studio and saw what they call a coastal colander bowl, I signed up for a one-day class to make one.My friend Jeanne and I were excited when we came for the class and saw the creativity we could put into our bowl. I decided my bowl would feature dancing dolphin and starfish. Cutting them out was fairly easy after I learned not to cut clay too thin. But when I returned to the table to form the clay into a bowl and saw how easy it was to botch the project, I was overcome with trepidation.I tried to listen to the rapid instructions of the teacher, but the voice in my head kept drowning her out.That voice said to me: You’re not crafty. You know from past experience you’re not artsy or crafty. You can’t do this.Normally, I am a very confident person, sure of myself in social situations. The thoughts in my head are usually always positive. I simply don’t torpedo myself with negative messages.Yet I was frozen to the spot by the inner voice that told me my clay bowl would not hold together. I couldn’t do it.Instead of concentrating on the present moment, I was remembering how I failed at other crafty projects I had tried.When I tried to learn to sew, I tackled making a pinafore for my then 2-year-old. It was an easy pattern for beginners, I was assured. Well, it took me so long to sew that the pinafore barely fit my daughter by the time it was finished. And people laughed at the pocket I sewed on the dress. I had sewed it on upside-down.I get to write about a lot of things and often get drawn to try the subjects I write about. I found myself quickly learning ballroom dancing, yoga, Zumba, stand-up paddle boarding and other water sports.Physical activity comes easy for me. But arts and crafts projects? I have a long history of failures.The most glaring failure came when I signed up for oil painting classes. I had interviewed the teacher for a newspaper feature and she came across as the perfect teacher for beginners. “I can teach anyone to paint,” she asserted.After I tried her class and couldn’t learn to do the most basic shapes, the teacher altered her claim. “I can teach ALMOST anyone to paint,” she said.So there I was, trying to learn a new craft but being sabotaged by thoughts of past failures.Realizing I was flooded by negative energy, I tried to refocus my thoughts. I’ve always believed it’s easy to do exactly that if we concentrate on it.We all have an inner voice in our head. Whether we know it or not, that inner voice often prevents us from being all we can be because it drowns us in negative thoughts.I once had a friend who claimed she “couldn’t talk to people.” Whether we were in a small circle of friends or together at a church meeting, she found it impossible to talk to anyone.The voice in her head kept saying: “You can’t. You can’t.” I told her as long as she believed that voice, she would be held captive by it.When I needed to stop my own negative feelings, I refocused my inner voice on a positive message.I know the power our inner voice has.Once, when David and I were ocean kayaking, a sudden storm whipped up too fast for us to get back to shore. The wind was fierce and the waves started to come up over my kayak. I was shaking so much from fear that I was having a hard time making progress. But when I redirected the voice in my head, I was amazed at the change in my paddling.I kept reminding myself I was a strong paddler. “You can do this,” I kept repeating to myself. “You’re a strong paddler.”I stopped shaking and believed my own message, paddling strong strokes and getting safely back to shore.A long time ago Norman Vincent Peale called that “The Power of Positive Thinking.”Well, in pottery class that power finally kicked in for me and allowed me to follow instructions to make my clay stronger. Of course I have to admit the teachers gave us all plenty of individual help to make sure our bowls wouldn’t fall apart.By the end of class, I was soaring in happiness. “I might not be the best one in class,” I said. “But I’m the most enthusiastic.”My bowl benefited from all that positive energy. I think it’s beautiful.Most of all, it’s proof of what we can do when we stop sabotaging ourselves with negative thoughts.I’m going to keep my coastal colander bowl on my dining room table as a reminder that I can, indeed, do crafts.But the truth is, we all have to know who we are. Even with my recent success, I am not a crafter. I’m just someone who would rather spend my time writing about others who are.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.