My First Sewing Lesson

On Thursday evening, I sat down in front of a sewing machine for a lesson. It's been 17 years since junior high home ec. My friend, Judy let me help a bit this summer with costume tasks for the musical, and one night she asked if I wanted to help overcast a seam on a skirt. I was WAY intimidated, but I tried. Stupid idea! I kept messing up the thread and getting all kinds of knots and running off the fabric. Urgh!
On Thursday, Judy and I decided that I should just start out by sewing some basic seams on some fabric that had no purpose. First she sat me in front of the machine and showed me how to thread it and what each of the parts did. Then I had to thread it myself. (She's a great teacher.) When I actually started, I had trouble with figuring out how to hold the threads while keeping the fabric flat and straight, guiding the edge, and keeping it straight. LOTS of multitasking in sewing! What I came to realize throughout the evening is that my trouble was with trying too hard to force the fabric through. I was trying to make the machine do the job that it was accomplishing all by itself.
Do you ever do this with your life? I sure do. All too often, I try to force things to happen. A death grip complete with white knuckles and all. I push that fabric through and what do you know? it gets wrinkled and all bunched up... Knots appear and string comes from places that I know they shouldn't. Why do I do this? Why do I make a mess of things by trying to control them? Why can't I give up control?
On the other side of the coin, there are many things that I don't control that I really should... Like what I eat. Will I ever get this balance thing figured out?