Timetobeme's Blog

I am still doing a lot of thinking about the future and what I want to do with myself now that my job is over. I have raised my kids and now they are all on thier own. I need to find a new focus.

For the last two and a half years our daughter and her family have lived with us . They joined us in Texas from Calif when our son in law lost his job in the housing industry. It took them a while with this economy but they both finally have jobs they can build a future on and we are moving out of our own house  mid June to let them rent it from us and we are getting a wonderful apartment to start the next chapter in. It is very exciting.

Now I need to figure out what I want to do next.  I have been working on jewelry for the better part of 20 plus years and although I feel I make lovely items and they seem well recieved, my sales are really only to my wonderful family and friends.  I appreciate them all so much, but it has become crystal clear that I have not found a way to create an income from my work and it is getting to be increasingly frustrating.

I am not sure I can continue to beat my head against the wall any longer. I see others selling thier jewelry hand over fist and making an actual living, but for some reason, I just am not enjoying that kind of success. After 20 years, I think I need to make it a hobby and leave it at that.  Enough is enough and my passion for beads and jewelry is obviously  not enough to overcome my lack of ability to find a successful venue to sell my pieces.  I  think if I had a creative partner to get together with and share the expenses I could branch out to some craft fairs and give that a try, but no matter how hard I have tried, no luck.  I have met people time and again who seem to have that same desire to find a craft partnere, give them my card, and never hear a thing back from them.

I just think maybe I am being shown over and over, this is not what I am supposed to be doing.

I love to write. I used to love to draw. Once we had our four kids, I lost the time for those pursuits and that is when the jewelry came into my life. Jewelry you can create with kids running and screaming around you. No big huge concentration is needed. At least not for me, maybe some people need quiet, but I do not . I always have the tv on , or I am on a phone call when I create my jewelry .

I am thinking once we are in the apartment I will start working on my writing and drawing skills again. When I look at what I drew in my teens and young twenties it is discouraging to see how much I have lost.  Drawing is something I have to concentrate on. I need to focus and think.  I will have that quiet time to draw once we move.

I think at some point you have to figure the universe is telling you something. Maybe jewelry  is just not what I am supposed to be doing. Not my life work, not my calling. I am okay with it. I have kind of been feeling this way for a while.  Jewelry is not the thing I came here to this life to do. I have always been an artist, jewelry just has been my most recent medium to work with.

I am looking forward to this great adventure we are starting in June. I am so excited. I am trying to figure out what to do. Do I set up a studio or do I pack up the beads and put the boxes in the guest room closet or storage closet and forget them for a while ? I just do not know.

Sometimes when you have been trying something for a long time, it is not so fun anymore. I am still just as able to create, and I do enjoy making pieces, especially custom orders but for the most part, when you c reate to sell the fun goes out and the frustration comes in !!

The only thing I do know for absolutely sure is that I want my future to be even more fun and creative and exciting than my past has been !! I have shared my life with my wonderful husband for over 30 years and our kids  have been such a blessing. It has been fun and never boring, and I want to have a fun and interesting next half of my life too !!

I am going to be 52 in June. That is still very  young. I used to think I would be old at 50, but if my eyes are closed, I feel much younger. When I cannot see the weight I put on , it does not affect me, only when I am looking do I see the weight that has been a bit of an albatrose around my neck.

Oprah once said her fat was like mud in her wings and I can relate to that. I think I need to work on getting rid of the extra weight  and see where that takes me.

I am learning that finding yourself. working on being who you came here to be, is not easy work.  It is really hard. It is not exciting all the time, but can be very boring and tedious to find what you are supposed to do.

I wish the answer was there for me to read, but it is not !! It is a deep hard excavation that we have to do. Removing those rocks and dirt a bit of a time and using that little brush to gently move things out of our way so we can see underneath the facade we have created !! I know something great is there, I know it will be fun and creative and fullfilling. I also know I have some more digging to get to it.

So, for now I am packing and  figuring out what to take, lend the kids, or sell. Lots of hard work. we want to lighten the load and start fresh without so much stuff !!

Life is meant to be lived to the fullest and that is what I want to do.   I want to enjoy the journey too, not just what the journey shows me. The journey could be quite long, it could be quite short, but the journey will teach me about myself and that is very important !!