Today I read a blog post that I really wanted to share with you. You can find the full post here.
Stephanie Howell wrote a post entitled "What Happened? Falling into a Creative Black Hole". I found that I could totally relate to it and it was extremely interesting. I hope that you are able to take something away from this post too. So here is part of her post:
Why don't I scrapbook anymore? Why don't I ever make time to be creative anymore (except for the Studio Calico assignments I owe each month)?
What happened? And what can I do to fix it? Because I don't want to stop.
A lot of things happened.
1.I had too much stuff.
I kept buying. I kept saying yes when people wanted to send me things. I kept ordering and keeping up with the latest and greatest.
And I drowned in it.
I had too much. So I purged. I donated. I did giveaways. I gave two boxes to our babysitter. I stopped buying, I stopped saying yes.
2.I got caught up in the mob mentality.
"Everyone" has a silhouette. Everyone was misting. And splattering ink. And sewing. And stamping and layering and and and...
And while it is a lovely look (one I wish I could pull off)...I cannot pull it off. And it is not "me".
I thought it had to be me. So I tried it. I misted. I layered bits and pieces. I spent hours on layouts.
And it wasn't fun for me. It didn't feel authentic. And the end result wasn't meaningful to me.
I got tired of feeling like I had to constantly link and tweet and show pictures of what I was working on.No one said I had to...but it's easy to get sucked into it. Most days I don't even have time to go in my scrap room. At.All.
I wish I could have a new project to share every day. But that is not going to happen anytime soon. And social media has a way of making you feel inferior. If you let it.
3.I got stressed out
I don't think I really have to explain this one. For some reason I never really got my feet under me this deployment. Creativity was the last thing I had time for. I quit project life,didn't really set foot in my scrap room,I started my new job...which I LOVE by the way. But a lot of things happened that took the place of creativity.
4.I realized that I'm probably not the best fit for design teams
I don't make complicated pages. I don't dabble in techniques or do anything that would sell classes or product. I found a job where I could pour my creative focus without being looked at for layout inspiration.
I realized that making heartfelt,meaningful pages the way I do was NOT the best fit for pushing or selling product. I never figured out a way to do that in an authentic way and I got tired of trying. Simply put...some can make the two mesh in an honest way. I cannot.
I finally learned that I shine through blogging. Through sharing my heart (and sometimes sharing my heart in layouts)...but I am not a competitive designer.I am not great at selling product.
I don't want to have to worry about if I'm good enough. I want to be me and feel 100 percent at home doing what I'm doing. That's why the MME job and moving my focus elsewhere is a great fit for me.
I still intend to share companies and products I love now and then. That's part of the joy of this for me...sharing things and people I truly believe in!
**I need to come back here and clarifying that I am not trying to bite the AMAZING hands that fed me. There used to be a time that perhaps I was better at being a design team member. It has been a joy and privilege to work for companies,teams,and women I believe in. There is no doubt that those days brought me many gifts and amazing opportunities. I just feel that I am not a good fit for design teams anymore. There are many people who ARE and who do it well.**
And today's project is a Slider Box. I actually created 3 of them using up some old Simply Scrappin' kit that I had left over. And I admit that the first box that I made....despite the creator's assurances that these are easy to make...took me 3 hours! And lots of pulling apart and re-doing!
So please enjoy!!!!
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