Not only have I provided a very rare blog post for you, I've gone and done something else that is quite exciting...
I'm working on building a web site!
This has been a goal/dream/aspiration for literally years now. It used to be that I didn't have time because I was caring for very young children. Then, as the children got a little older and more independent, my online Etsy business began to get so big that I wasn't operating a shop - a shop was operating ME.
I reached a near-breaking point in February, as I was desperately trying to stay on top of Etsy while also preparing some very exciting new releases for the yearly wholesale needlework market in Nashville. There were some days that I honestly didn't know how I would be able to take time out to sleep. But rest is essential, so sleep I did, and sometimes things had to wait.
Everyone survived.
Market was a huge success.
I came home ready to make changes. Ready to go to town and rent office space and hire a person to run my Etsy shop for me. Ready to free up my time so that I could be creative again; so that I could plan and design and let ideas flow. My business consultant aka husband and I had a few intense conversations about letting go, and financial responsibility, and how we/I could move forward during a highly active growth period in the Cross Stitch industry while still retaining and being able to harness that artistic side of me that brought me here in the first place.
Ah... and then COVID-19 came rushing in to the forefront and I was given that much needed break from running the shop. I pared back to only filling shop and distributor orders, which still kept me so busy I thought it would never let up. But slowly, I realized that I was humming to myself more and the laundry was getting caught up on, and there was less dust on the shelves than there had been in ages. I was still working a LOT. But I had time to think. I had time to be Mom and Wife and Keeper of the Home. And ideas were beginning to flow.
Then today I realized two things.
One: I had an entire day before me with very few items on my to-do list.
Two: I HAD TIME TO START PLAYING WITH A WEB SITE
And that leads us to right here in this moment.
This pandemic is dreadful. It has terrorized the entire globe and I really don't want to think too hard about the impact it is having today and will continue to have for some time to come. But, I also can't help but be thankful for the forced break in the rat race - the screeching halt that we've all had to take. I hope that I'm not the only one reassessing what really matters, taking a closer look at what I've been up to and whether or not it was all necessary.
I could talk at great lengths about how my kids miss their friends, and yet how much more relaxed they are. Not to mention how much more relaxed the adults in this house are. My husband's job has been highly stressful during this time, but he's also had more time to putter around outside. We miss the old ways, but we embrace the for-now ways, knowing that eventually the old ways will reassert themselves.
It feels good to have words back; I haven't had the urge to write for a few years now, but I can feel the itch again. I may never return to running my business the way I did before. Time will tell. It does keep ticking, after all, even if it feels like it is standing still.
Now, if you're curious... go take a peek at my new site and tell me what you think.