These two crochet mandalas come from Sarah Hannis of @classybird28 on Instagram where we learn that she’s a “tea drinking, cake baking, crocheting, crafty mum (and grand mum) who enjoys gardening and loves Dr. Who.
The first crochet mandala here is made using a smaller version of Wink’s standard 12-round mandala free crochet pattern. It’s exactly the same as her pattern except that it’s worked in only eight rounds. Sarah alternates blue, reddish-purple and a variegated yarn to give us a richly colorful mandala. She writes about it, “my first mandala; Wink’s beautifully simple pattern inspired me to design my own”.
Sarah’s second crochet mandala, a seven round mandala worked in the same colors as the first, is her own first mandala design. She reminds us that it was inspired by Wink and says, “Sadly missed, a true creative being”.
In her note, Sarah adds:
“I have been a crochet addict for three years and have found the online community the loveliest people. I have an odd sense of humor and love helping people and readily offer suggestions or signposts.
I am a positive person but recall my dark days of post natal depression, and I will do anything to support others fighting psychological, emotional or physical challenges.
Everyone faces challenges throughout their lives. Let’s banish any stigma or judgment and celebrate our loves and the beautiful moments, however fleeting they seem.”
Regardless of whether or not you’re interested in celebrity news, famous people can help destigmatize mental health issues when they open up about what they’ve gone through. Sarah mentions post-natal depression, also called postpartum depression, so I thought that today I’d highlight five famous women who have opened up about their experiences with this issue:
- Hayden Panettiere portrayed the experience of postpartum depression on the show Nashville. The scenes were written before she went through the experience herself but she ended up dealing with the condition in real life and took a related absence from the show to get through the hard times.
- Gwyneth Paltrow shared that she knew something was wrong when she couldn’t connect to her son like she could with her daughter but it wasn’t until her husband shared with her that he thought it was postnatal depression that she realized what she was going through.
- Some women have pregnancy-related depression with only one child and some with all pregnancies. Reality star Kendra Wilkinson experienced it with both her first and second children. The birth of the latter coincided with a marriage scandal that likely exacerbated her emotional / mental health issues.
4. Alanis Morissette was criticized by many when she chose attachment parenting; later she also shared her struggles with postpartum. This emphasizes that new mothers, even those who aren’t celebrities, often feel judged for their parenting choices, which can lead to additional issues of guilt, shame and stress that exacerbate depression.
5. Brooke Shields has been a leader in spreading awareness about postpartum depression. When experienced it ten years ago and was faced with a lot of stigma about her use of anti-depressants when her daughter was born. Her courage in sharing her story has helped open the door for others to discuss the issue as well and for women experiencing postpartum depression to not blame themselves.
See all Mandalas for Marinke here
3 comments
Comments are closed.