Embroidery is an art form with no shortcuts, and therein lies its most powerful aspects. In a world that continues to move faster and faster, it asks that we slow down: trying to rush through will only result in frustration and disappointment.

I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder a few years ago, and I live in a mind which moves through the world quickly and erratically. My emotions and perceptions can change in the blink of an eye, and before I found recovery I was dragged along wherever they ended up. But the needle and thread are steady in their repetition; they demand slowness and patience, which is where I found regulation and recovery.

Embroidery reflects the core of the human experience: we cannot rush mindfulness, feeling, connection, or healing. All of these things will happen at their own pace; all we can do is facilitate space for them. Humans have been using needles for the past 40,000 years, and in that time the art has hardly changed. We have better materials, more techniques, but the act of passing a needle through fabric for the sake of adornment and protection remains largely the same. It is one of humanity's most ancient crafts, and one of the most powerful ways to experience what it means to be human.