Saturday, August 20, 2011

The summer break is almost over. Am I ready to re-open my shop?

Summer is just about over and I will soon be opening my shop again. I'm looking forward to it yet I'm a little bit hesitant as well because I don't want to get wrapped up in the "selling as a measure of success" mentality. I have found that I've been a lot kinder to myself these past couple of months and as a result, I've been happier. I've been spending my time learning new things and not being very concerned with the outcome. This is a big change from last June where I felt like I had to keep a rigorous pace of work it I was going to acquire any sort of "success".
Learning to "paint" and layer with Corel.
I remember one night when I was telling my husband that I couldn't veg out in front of the t.v. because I had too much work to do. His response to me was, "Man, that boss of yours is a real slave driver." I try to remember this when I start feeling like I'm not doing "enough". I'm making all these choices and no one is forcing me to work on my Etsy shop every waking hour. I think I have this deep-seeded idea that success will never come to me without sacrifice, pain, lack of sleep and exhaustion. "You gotta pay your dues", I hear.
I'm trying to let go of other people's definition of what success means and recognize the things that make me happy as my own measure.

I can say for sure that I will need longer than two months acquire this mind-shift but I'm optimistic about my progress so far. Do you have a sure fire way to lift yourself out of periods of self-doubt? I would love to hear your thoughts.

4 comments:

  1. I do not have a way to pull myself out of self doubt, except for the memories of all the zillion times when I said, "this is crap" & then everyone loved it.
    I certainly get what you're saying about being your own boss. People ask me how I do it, (whatever their perception of my success is) & I tell them I'm ruthless with myself. And I pretty much am. TV nights are a rarity. Exhaustion is the norm.
    I think, either you're driven, or you are not. No matter what endeavor you try, those traits will come through.

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  2. Interesting points Kye. It's true that I've always felt the need to "do" and create but I think I've taken it too far and have felt too often that all my hard work is not paying off. It's been a long time coming for me to change my definitions of success.
    Thanks so much for your comments. I love getting them.

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  3. I think that is really a good point of view that you have. I have been in this mood all summer, thinking that I must work super hard on my Etsy because I finally have more time now that I have finish my studies, but also because this autumn I'll have to start searching for a real job an then I will have very much less time for all of this. So I was a bit freaking out, thninking that it's now or never. I've been finally not able to make only a quarter of what I wanted to make, because I was too worried about it. I finally decided to take some time for me and live in a real vacation mode, work on Etsy when I feel like it, and that's it! Juste got my diploma after five long years, I deserve it :-)

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  4. You are so right. We're here for such a short time and there aren't many of us walking around saying we wish we could have worked harder but rather wish we could slow down and enjoy the things life has already given us.
    Congrats on getting your diploma!

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