One Day at a Time

It's time to be committed to the writing of things.  What I know best is where I am in the middle of this middle age thing.  Maybe I don't know it all but I surely have overthought life and all the things that got me from there to here and in trying to be present, maybe putting it all into this space is the best way to navigate and share .  So this spot will be my safe place, talk about my day, speak my truth and connect to the world kind of place. I'll hopefully grow as a writer and stop overthinking and letting the unfolding of this part of life happen.  The story of my story.

I've had some incredible moments of sureness and purpose in the past couple of months since my day job ended. I've also had some horrible feelings of failure.  Keep in mind I haven't done much in the way of making things happen, I worked a quilt retreat and watched snow fall in the mountains for days. I've reorganized my work space and 12 bins of fabric so I can find my "supplies". I've weathered an awful cold/flu thing that roared through my family.  I've been so sure that my little handmade business would explode with all the things I made and I was so sure I would make enough to pay my bills. And to be sure, I've had some sweet things happen but truly I haven't been as productive as I should or need to be. Which makes being discouraged and fearful a really silly thing, because I haven't done the work that I know will take me where I want to be. I let other stuff take up my time.

Last night I let this huge doubt cloud engulf me and I lost my vision for a few hours. I cried a lot in overthinking, frustration and sense of failing (when I haven't even truly tried!!! omg the emotional minefields I can create!!). I filled out applications for jobs I don't want through tears and unsureness. My bank account is pitiful and empty and I keep wondering how it is at my age I am here, unsure and low on resources. But the thing is, I wouldn't let my children fall down this rabbit hole. I would tell them that they hold the answers to all their worries in their own hands. I would tell them to breathe, step outside and remember their plans and purpose.  And I would make them drink water, stretch, go to the gym and get some sleep. And then do the next thing they are here to do...I would guide them through the self care they need to remember who they are and what they are capable of. Yes I get that I need to parent myself through this crisis of my own making.

I am here because my life didn't travel a safe straight line.  I am here because I believe in something that I can't quite put my hands on but know is important and real. I am here because I'm making space for the things that matter which includes letting my creative soul come out into the light even when the doubt cloud is hovering. So today I drank some water, stretched my body, worked out and slept well.  I ate a good breakfast and got to work. In my pajamas, with my hair in the messy ponytail I slept in. I made a to do list of 10 things and am working my way through.  And I'm here, writing stuff down because I love the writing down of stuff. I had a couple of sales, I have a growing stack of cute things that will be sent to my favorite wholesale shop in the world and I listed stuff in Etsy. That is progress of a tangible nature.  I am here feeling less like a failure and more like a girl who is building what she intends to build. Because I did the things I meant to do.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday and it's been a while since I could sit and talk with him. I miss his way of listening and then teaching me to sort it out. I wondered what he would say if I told him all the stuff that is weighing on my heart and I remembered a sign he had in his woodshop classroom.  It said " your mother isn't in this class, clean up after yourself"    That was his way, take care of your own stuff.  I think if he was around, he would tell me to stop crying and wasting time looking for jobs I don't want.  Be realistic, do the work, make the things, work the plan and don't let doubt win. I think as always he would be right. Just keep going and stop crying and wringing my hands.. Remember  stand out under the stars each night to remember how much I love a curvy road.

So that's that..  Where I am today.  I'll see you all tomorrow, you can count on that.

Love Wildly
Barbara

Me

Daughter
Sister
Mother
Wife
Grandmother
Friend
Worker

Maker, big dreamer, truth speaker, story teller, love giver, star gazer, open hearted, wild and willful. flower gatherer.
Clumsy, easy crier, loud talker, constant singer, emotion wearer, peace seeker. Ninja warrior princess when called.
Hug giver, strength chaser, moved by music, frugal, creative, afternoon napper, food lover, comforter. Conflicted and sure. Heart aching, love craver. over sharer, constant talker. cowgirl without a horse.
Squirrel brain, midnight thinker, moon dancer, barefoot always, hair tangled, lie hater,  love and truth , avoider, procrastinator, bad joke teller, at last unbroken. Simple style. Cluttered and uncluttering. Wishful wanderer, brave and fearful, over-thinker, bad saver.
Business builder, fabric hoarder, needle and thread, book reader, too frequent smart phone user, self care giver.... rain, mountains, movie musicals, good quotes, grey tee shirts, clouds, ferris wheels, small birds, animals, beach, breeze, sun, freckles,curves, simple and complex, health and fitness finder, soul tender.  Live out louder. Wild flower.  Me

Love Wildly
Barbara

Wild Daisy in the Sun

As happens at the end of every year,  I do a little assessing of where I am. It's not a bad thing to take stock and refresh ...make plans and list hopes . Not a bad thing at all.   Especially for the over thinkers, worriers and dreamers.  It's the perfect time to evaluate and plot the course for the 12 months ahead . Fresh starts and big ideas...

I like to create a theme for myself, built around a word or a notion that fits where I am in life and where I want the next year to take me.  The story I want to write for myself.  And this year especially seems to be the blankest of pages waiting for life to scribble itself  all over.   Change is the new normal in my world...my sports mom life is over, my youngest is heading into his last semester of High School, my job is ending and I will never again have a crappy Christmas (that's a story for another day)...so I'm left with trying to figure out what I want....and what I've figured out is that I want more. In all caps....MORE. More of what is good.... more taking care of me, more financial security, more of my handmade business, more writing, more making, more of my path, more health, more fitness, more travel, more of my children and grandchildren, more family, more of my besties, more taking chances, more time well spent, more peace, more happiness, more fun, more love and more life...my life, the one I choose, so much more of that.  MORE...which means I also want less...

Less worry, less over thinking, less sadness, less feeling powerless, less clutter of all kinds, less of what is bad or heavy and oh my goodness....LESS WHINING... less complaining about what is wrong and more fixing it so that it is all right. Less thinking I have no control when it's actually my life in my own hands...Less allowing what feels like an itchy life sweater...  I think you get it...More of what is good so there is no room for anything else...filling up on MORE

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you"

~Maori proverb

 This photo by @sacraluna on Instagram caught me this morning and along with the proverb are my 2018.  Wild Daisies growing in the sun...shadows behind them.  That is how I feel and want to be, growing wild, face to the sun .....  

The best of everything to you all this year, I hope you will stay with me for the MORE to come. Plot your course and come with me. <3

Love Wildly,

Barbara

27 Gifts

 I've been gone a while...about a year.  I've been pretty much hiding and trying to find myself at the same time, really just getting by and trying to make it feel like enough.. A move I didn't want to make and well just life and what it throws around.   But now seems like as good a time as any to show up, like really show up.  You see this is a time of what feels like the most important days of my life.  I'll tell you why.

I'm turning 60 in 27 days.  Seriously you all...60.  I'm sort of struggling with it and not because I wish for my lost youth back.  Really NO.....  But more because I'm not where I would like to be in life. I've let comfort and fear hold me here.  60 feels like the something is whispering...."Are you kidding me??? You are going to do it like this?"  I'm simply not living the life I know is my best life.  So that crap needs to stop.  I'm not going to whine, blame or deflect.  I need to change some things and some of those changes are going to be well...not so comfortable. I need to live free and happy to just be me and that is going to rattle some cages.   I must do better for myself.

I find that I'm deeply reflective but also ready to stop being so serious.  It's time to have some fun and take off the heaviness that I've worn around for more than a couple of years. I am by my very nature a extroverted introvert, a quiet and loud girl, tired and energetic, happy and sad, afraid to speak up and wanting to share my voice..  I'm a study in contradictions.  My own problem and my saving grace. And with all the over thinking and wanting simplicity, the one thing that comes back to me is my overriding need for connection and belonging.   In short, I need to love, be loved and live with my heart a little closer to the surface.  I need to live my life unafraid to be who I am.  Stop defending my way in the world and stop letting myself be where I feel wounded and small. And goodness knows I really need some fun.  Life has to be more than sadness.  I must  do better for myself.

So in all of this internal chaos, let's add in the impending empty nest.  Okay not totally empty but my last child of 5 is a senior in high school.  Since the age of 23 I've been mothering as my first job. I don't always get it right, goodness knows there are some things I wish I could do over and take back and make right and fix.  But I can't.   I hope they all knew I loved them first and foremost. I hope they understand that if nothing else.  So at an age when most of my friends are traveling and retiring, I find myself for the first time in my adult life needing to have my own adult life that isn't solely based on who needs me when and where and figuring out what they need to eat.  I find myself knowing that I need a life that isn't completely about my children.  That is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.  While my youngest two are going to be around for a bit longer,( they have chosen to attend Junior College and live at home), life is changing fast.  When they are here, they are together, preferring each other's company to mine.  And that's as it should be. I know that these days are gravy.  On Friday nights watching my  youngest play the last half of his senior football season, I know the moments like this are ticking by faster than a stopwatch.  He drives himself to school and where he needs to go.  I go to the gym with them a couple of times a week and am grateful for that time and attention.  But clearly, I can no longer be all about their lives because as they find their lives, I need to create mine.  I must do better for myself.

I've spent the better part of the last couple of years, trying to shed sadness and fear.  I was in a dark place dealing with some hard stuff and so much pain. I knew for certain that I was not loved in a way that made any kind of sense to me. I let my value and worth be determined by so many wrong things.  I struggled with truths I didn't want and not to make it sound simple or easy because it wasn't at all.  But I was letting how I felt be decided and toyed with because I didn't value or love or trust myself.  When I was able to climb out of that dark damp place, I came out with the promise to put myself on the list of people I take care of and figure out what it is I wanted and deserved in this life of mine.  I started doing self care and investing in my own well being. (we are so going to talk about all of that, more than a few times).  I also knew I needed to make my way financially but honor my handmade life and desire to write.  I don't want to live broke anymore, with my hand out to ask for small loans from someone who is supposed to provide for me.  I had to figure it out so that the days ahead won't be so worried and I will have freedom.  There, I said it, I'm tired of being broke, I'm tired of being controlled by money and I'm not having it ANY MORE. I am capable and creative and it's time to be in charge. It's easier in my world to not do that but honestly, that isn't working.  I must do better for myself.

So I titled this blogpost 27 gifts and this is why.  27 days to the big 60 and I think it's a gift, this time in my life, it looks like nobody else's 60 and that's perfectly okay because I am not like anybody else, none of us do.... (shocker). I wanted to make a statement to the world, the people I love and mostly to myself that it is my time.  I've talked to them about it all and they aren't quite getting it.  So I'll say it here and now.  I'm taking care of me.  I'm surrounding myself with the best kind of people and experiences and I'm going to do what is good for the life I deserve.   27 gifts, one for each day until that magical birthday, when I will celebrate for myself with freedom from what doesn't serve me well.   Today..the gift was to write and speak up.   To let the light into this over thinking soul of mine and return to this blog,  a place for truth telling whatever that might be.  I deserve a life lived out loud, I deserve peace, I deserve happiness, I deserve all the good things that I want to give. I deserve Love and Belonging.. Here and Now.

Today this is my gift to me. SHOW UP,  create and write without hesitation, fear or second guessing,  .   Here and Now. A little stronger, a little happier, less quiet and pretty giddy.....

Love Wildly

Barbara

Summer Girl-what is this all about??

Something amazing has been happening.  And I need to step back a few weeks to explain how this amazing thing got a seed of a start in my whirling drunken squirrel party of a brain.

I am a very lucky girl in that I had magical summers up until the time I went to college and got real summer jobs,  I spent my summers in a funky and perfect little house in very small town on a peninsula of land between a bay full of soft sand beaches with water perfect for swimming, sailing and water skiing and the ocean on the west side, a short drive away. Our house was about a 5 minute walk to the edge of Tomales Bay.  We spent every single summer moved into a 2 bedroom house with a porch on the back for sunning, eating and friend gathering.... and a front porch with a couple of sleeping spots and stairs made  for perching when I wanted to read or embroider.  We had no tv, dishwasher or inside washer and dryer.  We spent sunny days at the beach and foggy days hanging with other summer families who became our family.  During the week it was mostly the moms and kids, dads came up on the weekends and so did "company".  Dinner during the week was often platters of cheese, salami and crackers while the moms played dominoes, had cocktails and laughed until it was time to go home. Weekends were large groups on our special beach with boats, sand and water everywhere.  The kids were allowed to roam the streets between everyone's home even in the dark. It was carefree and magical and I know as an adult what a very very fortunate girl I was.  At the time however.....I was surrounded mostly by boys.  My 2 brothers and a collection of the most annoying boys in the world.  So I found ways to entertain myself as a summer girl must do.  I turned to reading, painting rocks, embroidering on shirts and jeans and playing the guitar.  When the other two girls in the group were around, we did those things together but often it was me on the porch with my skinny legs tucked under me, using what we had around to make things or get lost in a book.  I learned to summer this way from my mom and the other moms because they summered like it was their job. I was left to be me, hair unruly, freckles encouraged to catch fire from  days on the beach.  I was barefoot except when I was forced to slip into my flip flops for safety.  My mom made the best apple and blackberry pie and if we picked enough of either, she would whip out a couple of pies before the beach. Pie for dessert and pie for breakfast on the porch in the sun.  Bathing suits and sandy towels were perpetually drying on the porch railing. It was simply the best way to grow up and to spend summer days.  Allowed to be my own tangled teenage self, I was probably the most at home and the most me I can remember.

A couple of weeks ago I was in a cabin in the mountains with some lovely women.   We were there to indulge in our projects, sewing machines, cutting tables and fabric were everywhere.  I happened to grab an embroidery project along the way and pulled that out on the first day.  As I sank into the stitches, I was taken back.  Back to what it felt like to just fall back into myself.  Stitching while we chatted or while we got quiet, I thought a great deal about the gift those summers had given me. I wanted to feel the way it felt when the world fell away a bit and summer was magical.  The more I embroidered, the more I traveled to that place and the more I wanted to recreate what that was like. That summer girl place, where the young carefree teenage girl lived for a few months each year.  Barefoot, unruly hair and sun on my face.  And Grow Wild Summer Girl was born.  First a hashtag on an Instagram post, the idea nagged at me. I shared my thoughts with a friend who jumped at the notion of being a summer girl and she encouraged me to write about it. And then I wrote the first Blog Post (one post back from this one)   http://wildflower57.blogspot.com/2016/05/grow-wild-summer-girl.html  Shared it on social media and something insane and beautiful happened.   A whole lot of you responded. And when I say a whole lot, more than any other blog post I have written..  And I knew that I wasn't the only one......

I wanted to share embroidery, reading ideas, summer thoughts, friendship bracelets and mostly friendships. I wanted to create summer for myself and see who else wanted to summer with me.  Connecting in a place that feels like home to our weary grown up girl selves....We carry the world and lots of worry about life and the people we are raising or love.  We carry so much more than we need to and adult life sometimes sucks the girl right out of us.  I say we take it back.  We can't all quit our jobs and summer like we did at 17 but we surely can give ourselves that place in bits and pieces.   So that is what this Summer Girl thing is all about.  connecting.  Connecting to other summer girls who need to laugh and let go a bit and connecting to ourselves.   Create a tribe of summer girls, exchange gifts, exchange pie recipes, exchange thoughts, exchange pieces of your heart. Whisper to each other and to yourself the things you don't let out in the other seasons , trust yourself to let your truths out and set down your burdens for just a while. Let go and be yourself...Just be a Summer Girl even for an hour at a time.

I've created a place for you to come gather with us..A Facebook page just for all of this wonder and magic..
https://www.facebook.com/Grow-Wild-Summer-Girl-1612348179082997/

I've also just started on Pinterest a Summer Girl Board and will be adding in some Summer Girl activities and reading list boards, all will start with Summer Girl...(I already started an Embroidery board).
https://www.pinterest.com/barbarawiggins/

So join us, become your Summer Girl, grow wild a bit.   There is no age that defines a summer girl, we are all the same in summer.  The Facebook page is filling up with lots of other Summer Girls from everywhere! Bring your friends, create a tribe, start summering and please please please share your stories and projects.  That is what we do as Summer Girls, we connect and we remember what that girl we sometimes leave behind.  Laugh hard, get sunshine on your face , play dominos and have cheese and crackers for dinner once in a while. Put down your phone, pick up something that feels like a deep sigh to your soul.   The world will look much brighter when you tuck your legs under you and settle in just a bit.   Welcome home Summer Girl. I'm so happy you are here.
<3 Barbara

Strong is Beautiful

So.... I've been wanting to write this post for a bit but I wasn't quite ready until now.   It's all about love....

My name is Barbara....I am 58 years old and on December 26, 2015 I weighed in at 234.5 pounds.  I could tell you all the reasons why, 5 babies, changing metabolism, menopause, inactivity, indecision, stress, worry, hopelessness and probably a bit of depression, anxiety and inertia thrown in as well.  I've tried many things to change all of these circumstances and feelings...many things.  And never ever quite could get past the things holding me back.... which at the end of the day was fear and the inability to care enough about myself to do better. ...I was my own problem.  I have had bursts of energy for walking, dance cardio in my kitchen, really healthy eating but always always, it trickledl through my hands like water and I gave up.  I've tried over the past 6 years to really do something about it all but I couldn't stick with it.  I allowed cruel words and my own jungle of crippling self doubt and again FEAR put me back into the safe and easy place of wallowing.

Nights for the past 5-7 years have been spent over thinking, entertaining worries that became bigger in the dark and kept me quiet and deeply sad.  Weakness and fear.   LIARS....both of them..... I watched my own children turn themselves into fit and healthy people, I watched friends turn themselves into fit and healthy people, with a glow that I knew might be inside but I honestly had so many excuses rooted in those fear and weakness lies that I just didn't put myself on the list of people I wanted to see healthy.  I didn't put myself on the list of people who I loved enough to believe in.  I'm going to say that again because it's the thing, the only thing..  I DIDN'T PUT MYSELF ON THE LIST OF PEOPLE I LOVED ENOUGH TO BELIEVE IN.... I didn't love me enough to take care of me.  Sadness, excuses and fear....  You can see how I got to that place... I just didn't see beyond the lies that happened in the dark.

 I wanted to be happy, free to be my own true self, unafraid and strong.. I wanted my barefoot and messy girl to be free to breathe, laugh, cry  and LIVE TRUE . I didn't want the critical voice of others or myself to count anymore. I wanted to be brave and unafraid. I wanted to be able to bend over and tie my shoes and to slip into clothes that didn't have 2 X's in the size. I wanted to shed the girl that I had become so that the girl I truly am could fly a bit, oh heck, I wanted to fly a whole lot. I wanted the life I WANTED and I wanted it now...Not sure when or how that all happened, I have to say it was a huge light bulb of an AHA moment.  just like that.... But.... I didn't know where to start except with my body. I wanted to glow and feel good about me. I wanted to feel love and give it to myself.  I wanted to put myself on the list of people I love enough.....so I did...honestly like that I did...And on December 26, 2016 with all 234.5 pounds of me, I joined a gym.

And so it started.  After a couple of treadmill sessions and one amazingly awesome treadmill accident that should have been caught on video, I asked my sons for help.  And they took me to the weights.   The part of the gym that was the most frightening and overwhelming, we went there.  I guess if you are taking on fears, you should take on the biggest ones.  I looked and felt totally out of place but we started. With  gentle but firm guidance I started learning to lift weights, learning what would impact what muscles. Learned how to manage a workout and what I wanted to get out of it.  I learned what was what and how to negotiate the sea of fit bodies and get my own spot on the floor in front of the big scary mirror so I could watch my form and concentrate.  I learned about the sauna after and how amazing it feels to sweat a bit at the end of a good workout and how it keeps soreness somewhat at bay. And I learned that I loved being stronger. Learned to push myself beyond what I think I can do. And I have learned to keep going.....through what is frightening.  Take on new challenges and triumph over things that I don't think I can do.....TRIUMPH...what an amazing word....

A few weeks ago, I experienced, a girlfriend's betrayal in a personal up close kind of way. ...My old self wanted to curl into a ball and cry.  My old self almost went into victim mode, a place that feels safe and justified.   But that isn't who I have worked to become.  I confronted the now former friend, told her that I knew what she had said about me, violating every bit of trust and ending our friendship forever. My old self would have negotiated around the hard stuff and let her remain in my life. My new self took care of me like I would take care of someone I loved. And instead of curling into a ball and crying for days, I headed to the gym. I sweated out a furious amazing workout, I did 2 miles on the treadmill until I could not do more.  And I knew that I was no longer afraid of anything.  Strong felt really good that day....Strong feels really good every day.

So after 4 months of learning to do hard things, lift heavy weights, fast walk for  many miles and feeling at home at the gym I should be able to show you a before and after picture.  I could, but  my "before" may look a bit like my "right now".   I've not lost a pound. I lose a pound here and there and seem to gain it back (SERIOUSLY????).  My clothes still have 2 Xs in the size label.  But I can bend over and tie my shoes, I am starting to get some muscles that show,I can do what I couldn't before and I am unafraid.  Because strong is more than my body, I believe you can't change one thing without changing everything about yourself.  It's a ripple kind of of thing... Strong is Mind Body and Spirit.  I am becoming  the girl I wanted to be. Unapologetically .  I am making some plans and setting some boundaries I didn't have before to have the life I WANT to have. To live free. I now sleep through the night, I eat better because it tastes better, I surround myself with people who are good for my soul, I am not afraid because I am stronger.   I am at the TOP of the list of people I believe in....I am at peace about losing the weight, I know it will shake loose eventually.  What I didn't expect was how much I would love all of this. Every single bit of rising up.  And that is why I had to write this love letter to myself and to you.. Because it's everything.

The title of this post was inspired by this piece.....

http://www.therustedchain.bigcartel.com/product/strong-is-beautiful-necklace

I just ordered it from my friend at The Rusted Chain.... Beki has lots of stuff with good words but truly these may be my favorite right now.. http://www.therustedchain.bigcartel.com/  ..

Strong comes in many forms, it's different for everyone.  But for me, it had to come from learning that I am indeed capable of doing hard things and learning that fear isn't something to run from. Fear is something to turn around, look in the eye and face down.... Fear will run from strong every single time. Because fear is a liar and only exists when you let it and strong girls are beautiful....  Even with 2 x's on their tee shirt labels.

<3 B

Do What You Love......

It's spring and time to lighten up a little/completely.  I've thought and over thought my inside story but there is so much more to me than all of that.  When asked what I do, I say "I make things..."   because that is the truth of it.  I love to make. I love the term MAKER.....It sounds so much fancier than "I make things".  Goodness it sounds like a real job and to me that is what the making is all about.... to be able to create the business and life I desire, with my own hands.  Made by me....

I have been a little bit in hibernation this winter.  I felt badly about it  but, sometimes it's just what you have to do to reset...... I may have wallowed and wondered for a short bit but what else I did was  read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and it was the perfect antidote to my hinbernationess.   It also prompted me to figure and put into writing, the core values of my maker's world and my Wildflower 57 business and this is what I came up with..mostly, I don't ever want anything else....and these are my driving core beliefs that I will use to guide me going forward.....

1.  Figure out what you and your business are about.  Be Clear about that.   And then you can do whatever you want with it, change your designs , change the things you make, change your approach and marketing. Any of it. But Know what you are about.....My business is based on the love of faded, colorful, softly made things that remind me of Prairies, Farms,Mountains, Open Spaces, sweet florals, torn whites, bits, pieces  and the freedom to be who I am...Tattered and Tangled..Unfettered....Everything comes from those things....

2.  Stay in your lane......Don't worry about what ANYONE else is doing....there will be many people who make stuff that is similar to yours, or something you had ready to try.   As long as you know what you are about, you know you aren't copying.  NOW...don't take this to mean you can copy a name, steal a picture, encroach on trademarked designs....what that means to me is to not always worry about trying to beat out or out do anyone else who may be close to your style or vision (believe me, this happens and it's not always intentional, sometimes it is ..and that is a different story when trademarks and copyrights are exploited )..  But if you keep your eyes forward, stay in your lane and focus on your intentions and keep rule #1 in your heart....You will be okay.  

3. Support each other.  Don't get caught up in the stuff that will undo you.  This comes from ..big sigh here.... experience.   I've been a participant/ guilty of reacting to what feels like someone trying to steal my ideas and projects. I've been accused of stealing other people's ideas and projects. I've been reactive and possesive . I've been used and hurt.    I know I haven't ever intentionally stepped on someone's toes and the ones I thought stepped on mine....they probably all felt the same.... but truly when you go down that road with another business person, you undo friendships, support systems and destroy good things. Why entertain this and give it any of your energy or try to have the discussion which is never ever going to end well.  Truly, with Pinterest and all the millions of ideas and tutorials out there, we are all bound to step into the circle drawn by someone and they will step into our circle.  And usually...it's just that we are doing what we do, following our creative energies where they will take us.... Instead of creating resentment and horrible negativity by thinking and saying that we are the only ones, maybe we just lift each other up. I've been on both sides of this, it feels horrible and embarrassing.  Let's lift each other up and cheer a little bit for everyone, I hope we all make it...  Back to #1 and #2 

4.  Love and Persistence..... This is it..  Design...Make...Repeat.....  and remember why you chose this maker's life. Because you have the heart and soul that doesn't understand any other way to be in the world. Because it's all that you want.  Because it's who you are.   And mostly... because you love it.  The love will see you through the hard work, and make no mistake it's hard work. One dropcloth apron is fun, dropcloth apron #357....not as much...Someday you may get help in the manufacturing of your work which will free you up to create more ideas and designs but it's all going to be work and from my perspective, the best work ever.  But please make sure you are all in....because it will test you but  give you back more than you can dream of......

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Lastly....where ever you may be in your creative business world....MAKE A PLAN.  Know where you want to go, have a road to get there, write down the steps you need to take and pursue the goals every single day with all your heart. .  Twists and Turns...take which ever of those  feels right to you. TRUST your vision, TRUST the makers energy and the pull of what calls your name...TRUST yourself....And don't be afraid to leap when leaping is called for.   There will be dry times, there will be busy times when you are exhausted and wonder what you were thinking and there will be times for hibernating and refreshing your tired soul.  But always always always DO WHAT YOU LOVE.......

Long may you make and thrive... 

<B

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