Monday, August 10, 2015

Welcome!

Welcome friends, to my newest venture!

Once upon a time, I had this idea.  I thought about opening my own Etsy shop and had dreams of making and sewing things to sell, which sounded fun and would bring in a little more income.  It would give me something fun to do which was not being a mom, something to keep me...well, me.  This was all perused over thoughtfully, and I even took the steps to begin opening that Etsy shop.  I got so far as to set up the name of the shop, and made a long list of "to-dos" to get it going.  The sheer number of items on that list caused me to say to myself, "Ugh, this is going to take a lot of work!  Never mind."  It was, and is, a familiar scenario in my life.  I am a starter, but not a finisher, a continue-to-do-it, a stick-with-it person, etc.  I opened that shop on March 22nd, 2012.  Over three years ago!

I had a talk with someone recently about how they are the same way.  They like to try new things, and it is fun and engaging for a long time, but then...things just...fizzle out.  And all the supplies and things purchased to pursue this new hobby are just there, taking up space.  And taking up mental space.  Making him feel a bit obligated to keep it because maybe someday, he would get back to that fun thing that just isn't that fun anymore.  The moral of this story is: it's okay to stop doing a thing if you aren't drawn to doing that thing anymore!

This was a big "a-ha!" moment.  I still love to sew, but I sure didn't want to sew things to sell anymore.

A couple weeks ago I had conversation with someone who I had never met before.  A life coach.  And she is the reason for my new venture.  Well, at least, she has helped me to start this new venture by being that person who I feel accountable to.  If I have to be accountable only to myself for something that is challenging or difficult, I will never do the challenging or difficult thing.  I now know this is because I have a fixed mindset instead of a growth mindset.  But with this knowledge comes power!  I know I am this way so I can take steps to improve myself and work hard and push myself to do things that I may have never even thought of doing before.

So my latest project is to re-launch and re-open that Etsy store from long ago, to sell my artwork.  In the last year or two, I have been painting.  I never realized how much I really loved painting until I started to do it.  I had taken one of those paint and drink wine classes for fun, and learned how to use watercolors.  And I was HOOKED.  I cannot express how much I love to use watercolors.  They way they look, the rough paper, the blending of the colors on the paper, ugh, I love it!  It makes me feel happy inside.

And the life coach is the one who coaxed this out of me, in that brief phone call, and she encouraged me to get to work on it.  It has only been 14 days since I spoke to her, but already I have made huge progress on getting this thing really truly going.  There will be no going back.  There will be no giving up.  I am going to do this, and I am doing it for ME.

2 comments:

  1. First, congratulations on your new journey towards personal growth. Secondly, kudos to you for speaking with a life coach - that takes guts. And last, but far from the least... I am so f*ing proud of you sis! Go light up the world. xxoo

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