I Forgot I Could Do That. . .
The other day a friend asked if I could stretch their cross-stitch canvas onto a frame.
“Yeah! I can do that,” I said without thinking—because I can. I learned how to stretch canvas back in art school as a teenager.
What surprised me wasn’t the request.
It was the fact that I had completely forgotten I could do that.
Without hesitation, my hands just knew what to do: how to measure the frame, assemble it, stretch the fabric evenly, staple the edges, finish the corners, and make everything look clean and professional. I didn’t have to look anything up. I didn’t have to second-guess myself. The knowledge was simply… there.
It made me realize how many art skills live quietly in the background of my mind, tucked behind the statistics and data analytics of my day job - like a crafty sleeper agent waiting to be reactivated.
Here are a few other things I occasionally forget I know how to do:
- Mat and frame photos or artwork
- Draw portraits
- Do my own nails (my wrist is too sensitive now for salon appointments)
- Speak French (and a bit of Spanish)
- Drive confidently in the snow
So what’s the point?
We build routines that keep us moving through life. They aren’t bad - quite the opposite. They’re made of our familiar coffee shops, our favorite clothes, our go-to routes, the people we love. I easily spend weeks rotating through the same five places in my city.
But within that comfort, we forget entire versions of ourselves.
So here’s my challenge to you:
Revisit a skill you haven’t used in a long time.
It might be an old hobby, a sport you quit, a random piece of knowledge you haven’t touched since college, or a craft you haven’t practiced in years. Try it again - even just once. Step into a different corner of your well-worn box. Remind yourself of what you’re capable of.
You might find yourself in your own moment of:
“I forgot I could do that.”
And when you do, I hope you pause to appreciate the parts of yourself that are still there—waiting, ready, and quietly extraordinary.
Let me know how it goes.