What’s new, boo?

Apparently, it has been since 2019 that I’ve really and truly blogged. Oops. I don’t need to tell you that a lot has happened since 2019… we’ve all lived with the ‘rona and *waves hand* all of this.

I did something super crazy during it all, I’ll admit. Maybe it was just the whole pandemic gave me a fresh perspective on what’s really important in my life, or maybe it was the burnout of working in public health as part of the response team combined with the constant turnover in my department (not to mention feeling completely unappreciated and certainly underpaid)… but I made a leap and opened my own yarn shop in town! I’m sitting a year and a half in and while it hasn’t been without its challenges and growing pains, I’m so thankful to be in a new place in life. A place where I can put my family first over some illusion of a career. A place where I feel genuinely fulfilled, and I get to meet and hang out with the coolest people in the world: the makers in my community.

It’s a weird thing, being my own boss now. It was always a huge dream for years and years, but it felt like opportunities never really were there. And now, looking back, I can see that all those years of trying on different “hats” career-wise have all lent themselves perfectly toward running my own business in something I’m passionate about. And I can’t even begin to tell you just how happy my soul is that I get to spend my days doing all these bits and pieces of jobs that I loved, except they’re all combined into this *one* job.

The downside to turning your passion and creative outlet into a full-time job, though, is that you need some *other* hobby. If it’s all yarn and business all the time, I will 100% burn out. So I’ve taken up learning to do new things. I spent nearly all summer learning to draw. I invested in myself and took some online lessons. I bought art supplies, including some nicer watercolors and brushes, and allowed myself to use them. That might sound silly, but I literally had to give myself permission to just play. To use the good items and make a mess with them and make mistakes instead of saving them for that magical day where I feel good enough at what I’m attempting to use them. Because, friends, if I’ve learned anything over the years with my yarn and knitting addiction it is that that magical day never comes. You always feel not good enough, or like the yarns (or paints, markers, etc) are too precious to use right now. But life is short and those “nice” supplies do not give a shit about your skill level and whether you’re good or bad at what you’re doing. They’re just inanimate objects, after all. So use them. Use them with joy and throw caution to the wind!

For the record, I ruined that lovely watercolor painting posted above when I tried to copy a piece I saw on Pinterest with power lines drawn in over the watercolor sky. And you know what? I’m fine with it!