Staying Neutral Basket

The FULL story behind the Basket: Grief… Something I’m having to learn about on a deeper level than ever before. I’m learning lots of interesting things about the way our bodies, hearts and minds respond to grief. I’m learning a lot more about myself. Unfortunately, I’m also learning how short my shortest fuse is, and that it takes a long time to get my breathing to return to normal.

Grief is almost as old as time. It’s something we all have to experience, learn how to overcome, and keep moving forward. That’s what I’m in the middle of since my Granny passed. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this experience is exhausting, overwhelming and downright inconvenient to living!

In the middle of all this grief I’ve learned to talk myself down by telling myself to “stay neutral”.  You see, I’m a pretty passionate person. I have all the big feels about all the things; and if you need to know what those are like, uncensored, you can just spend an hour in my house with my three little girls - and you will have a very clear picture of what the untamed Danielle would be like.

I’m learning I can stay neutral about many things, and that’s exactly what I need to be doing during this time of grief. I need to not have all of my feelings all over the ones I love, I need to just stay neutral. Does it really matter if all the laundry is done? Does it really matter if I’m forgetting most things these days? Does it really matter if I’d had to pay double shipping for items I could have had mailed together?

The truth is, all those things really matter to me feeling on top of things. They help me feel like my best self, organized - and I love some organization! However, during this hard time of learning a new way of life, and of painful grief, I just need to stay neutral. I need to not let the importance of feeling on top of life get in the way of my recovery and healing from losing Granny. I need to stay neutral and let the laundry pile up and know that there’s zero self-worth lying on the floor. I need to be neutral with myself!

I made this basket in the middle of the night, when I was unable to feel neutral about anything. I was having all the big feelings about all the things and was unable to sleep. However, as I wove and designed and took deep breaths, I became calmer. I became neutral about all the things I can be neutral about. So, for now, I just have to choose to stay neutral every day and continue to remind myself that I’ve never been this way before.

This basket uses a 8” x 14” D wooden handle as well as a 12” x 8” oval hoop. It has a woven base.