!!!!!Stress!!!!!
Why?
I wish I knew.
I mean, why bother?
What is it going to do for anyone?
Tense shoulders. Shortened breathing. Pangs of pain shooting up your neck.
Frown lines. Indegestion, including twinges in your stomach, so much sometimes that you can't even eat. And of course, lack of sleep. This is just a few of the nasty things Stress can do for a person.
I wrote this blog today because I see other's feeling similar pressures and stresses I have been feeling lately. Though I realize, and keep telling myself that it is not healthy, not productive, and really totally unnecessary,.... I still seem to not listen to myself, and continue to persue the discomforts of feeling stressed.
My stress level is heightened however, in that I am also a self-designated worrier. Why I worry exactly? I don't really understand that either. I have always believed in, and lived by, and readily will tell anyone who cares to listen, not to worry! "If it's meant to be, it will happen. Everything has it's time and will naturally take it's course, regardless of how much we worry or don't worry."
There are definitely different stress tolerances in all of us. Believe it or not, there is good stress and bad stress. However, I am not going to get into that aspect today. Thank goodness we are so unique and individual!
When I think of the word "STRESS", the stock market leaps to mind. To me that seems like the most stressful job in the world. Yet there are wonderful people who thrive in that atmosphere and would ask, "what stress?"
Along with life's normal stresses associated with our daily routine, there will always be those directly-out-of-the-left-field experiences that get thrown at us from time to time just to keep us on our toes. Right now I am dealing with particular instances of stress, that are somewhat shared by a group of individuals I know in a wonderful interactive group on Etsy.com.
It's the stresses that can be put on a creator of homemade/handmade goods. The feeling of wishing you could be more productive and produce more than one person can produce so as to keep up with the demand or perhaps the impending demand. The time factor of how to find time to be creative and still maintain regular day to day activities?
The stress of making certain we're professional and presentable, thereby appealing to our public.
We'd certainly like to be able to get all the ideas that we think up, brought to life. Whether it be the images scribbled on a serviette waiting for a restaraunt meal, or the cryptic shorthand details of project ideas as we stand in line for the bus or to buy groceries. Perhaps even those fantastic ideas we've had swimming in our minds that still need transfering to a more tangible source. We all have it happen it seems. Ideas and not enough time to create them into reality.
Another big dilemma can be... What if they don't like what I made?
The stresses of feeling like everytime we create something, no matter what it is, it is like our child, our baby. When we create, and then we put it out in front of the public eye, we then worry and stress, as to will it be accepted, liked, bought, and enjoyed?
And what about the stress of pure demand vs availability?
Oh My Gosh What if I'm Successful? How will I keep up?
This is when I tend to have to stand back for a second. Take a deep breath or two. And realize again, that stressing isn't really helpful at all. In fact it can be very counter-productive.
If I can keep telling myself this like a mantra, repeating it often, I just may "get it!" Gosh I hope so!
I'm a little slower in my old age now, but hopefully not too slow to get with the positive program.
This blog today ties in with another blog of mine from awhile ago about taking care of ourselves so we can take care of other's.
It also gives me opportunity to tell you about one particular impending issue in my life. Creating my newest shop on Etsy. (remember all the different tolerance levels of stress? Well, mine isn't good with changes of any kind, and this change though good, is still stressing me)
With all this said, I do want to introduce my new shop on Etsy.com called:
~ Blended essential oils for alternative healing.
I feel that once I get this shop up and running, I will definitely be a happier camper. It is the initial stages I feel rather obsessive about getting done.
It's with much appreciated help from my UxCritter customers, from my initial shop on Etsy, that has encouraged me to open this second shop. Due to the positive responses to samples and purchases of my essential oil blends, I have taken the leap to open a second shop specifically for these fine blends.
One particular issue I am starting to stress over now is the appearance of my products. I used to feel that some handmade goods looked too professional. I felt that they looked too closely like they were manufactured products.
For the most part, I really like a rough edges type made-with-love homemade look.
I like the mom-and-pop enterprises. The bootstrap businesses. The I-made-it-myself, proud and happy people with a product that truly has been made by them.
People who initially tried making new things for themselves, perhaps out of necessity. Then discovered that their product worked well, and helped them in some way, or just made their lives happier.
They took that important plunge and put into motion a thinking, invovative, productive, process and were successful at creating something handmade/homemade.
(*On a wee side note: I will be the first to say, that I, as a creative person, am truely thrilled that there are those who aren't creative in the same ways that I am and vise versa. Those are the people who love to appreciate the efforts of my creativeness and I their's. Plus I am very appreciative of those who claim that they have no creative abilities at all. Those who don't create the things we do, are our best customers of course! We all have skills in different areas. Thank goodness! Otherwise where would we all be? )
Now however, I find myself wanting to make my handmade items more polished than I have been. More professional looking. More desireable perhaps? Not to say that I was sloppy with my workmanship. Just that what I turned out was my personal best at my own comfort level. I had the sheer pleasure of enjoying being creative and turning out things I liked, that I wanted to share with others. I was never one to push for perfection, as I didn't feel I was trying for any awards, or notariety other than perhaps word of mouth that I had a shop of cute hand crafted goodies.
A very professional, polished, almost manufactured look is something I've always held at arms length. To me personally it was too close to any everyday store bought industry produced item I could pick up at any brick and motor store if I cared to. So with that stated, I now feel it's a bit of a daunting task to provide a more professional approach to my goods, but at the same time remain a natural down to earth homemade, hand crafted, small enterprising individual with a product that people will buy, use, and enjoy!
On a more positive note, I do happen to like the feeling of pushing my limits a bit in the direction of being more polished and professional. I always enjoy a challenge! This challenge becomes even more intriguing as I try to strike a happy medium with professionalism balanced with a naturalistic sense. Can I accomplish this? I hope so. I'm certainly going to try. A definite plus is that this will help me to make and attain a new goal in my life. Growing in this way, and hopefully meeting with success, will add happiness and healthiness.
Once again, many thanks to those of you who have encouraged my new enterprise to bloom and become a reality.
I do tend to let myself feel the stresses, when it comes to making sure that I'm doing my utmost best, to create a "Fine" shop of my blended essential oils. One that my customers and I can both be proud of.
Now, I'd better eat, sleep, and get busy creating one of my relaxation, positive, energizing, balancing wonderful essential oil blends and use it on myself foremostly. LOL
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