Reconciling introversion with the need for community.
This is my next challenge. I thought at first I was shifting to a more extroverted phase, but really, I'm an introvert who's realizing the value of interactions and forcing myself out there into vulnerability land. There's this pull in me to recognize the importance of an "it takes a village" sort of mentality.
I'm getting involved in Nashville Urban Food Forests (NUFF) where homeowners volunteer their yards to be planted with edibles by an all volunteer work crew who design and install it and I guess donate the money for the plants and such. I know they got a truckload of mulch donated on the last dig-in. I haven't gone to an event yet and the next one falls when I'm out of town, so maybe I'll be able to get out in May. By then my own gardens should be in maintenance mode. Plus, my friend Johnny wants me to help him start sort of a home garden co-op. Where everyone involved has a couple of plots and everyone grows something a little different and shares the crops of each site. Everyone works together to install and plant the plots, but then it's up to each site owner to be the caretaker and harvester and distributor. Basically, he's counting on my experience in square foot gardening and landscaping with herbs and fruit and how to construct raised beds and such. Designer, planner, teacher... all sorts of interactions with other people. I think he's doing this just to put me in this position and make me deal with it.
So there's that. Then there's the jewelry business and getting more serious about making that happen. I was contacted by a guy via email the other day saying he saw my site and liked the attention to detail I put into my custom pieces. He asked if I'd like to join as a maker on CustomMade.com, a website where buyers go to bid for an artisan to design and make them a custom piece of furniture or jewelry. Serendipity, my friends. I had just been working out that I needed to find an outlet to get my fix for commissions. I love commissions and no one goes to Etsy for commissions, in my experience. The sort of shoppers I attract are people who want something ready made, but unique and that's fine. But commissions are where I really flourish. If I could do this alongside putting the ready-made lines of things on Etsy and at art and craft shows and maybe a boutique or two locally as my bread and butter, this could work. But yes, interactions galore. Rejection potential high. Failure potential high. Persistence and communication of utmost importance.
And I have other things in the pipeline that will require to make connections with people and put myself out there and take risks on getting hurt. Which is why all this inner work is so important right now. I have to get that cleared up and learn new patterns for coping so that I'm not totally halted when I hit a setback.
I leave you with a wise and important message delivered by Ben Folds Five and Fraggles:
"Certainty of death, small chance of success... What are we waiting for?" - Gimli
No really, I was just spouting off yesterday somewhere about how I need to stop fearing things that aren't going to kill me. Pain isn't death. Failure isn't death. Letting fear make me stop living life might as well be death.
I'm getting involved in Nashville Urban Food Forests (NUFF) where homeowners volunteer their yards to be planted with edibles by an all volunteer work crew who design and install it and I guess donate the money for the plants and such. I know they got a truckload of mulch donated on the last dig-in. I haven't gone to an event yet and the next one falls when I'm out of town, so maybe I'll be able to get out in May. By then my own gardens should be in maintenance mode. Plus, my friend Johnny wants me to help him start sort of a home garden co-op. Where everyone involved has a couple of plots and everyone grows something a little different and shares the crops of each site. Everyone works together to install and plant the plots, but then it's up to each site owner to be the caretaker and harvester and distributor. Basically, he's counting on my experience in square foot gardening and landscaping with herbs and fruit and how to construct raised beds and such. Designer, planner, teacher... all sorts of interactions with other people. I think he's doing this just to put me in this position and make me deal with it.
So there's that. Then there's the jewelry business and getting more serious about making that happen. I was contacted by a guy via email the other day saying he saw my site and liked the attention to detail I put into my custom pieces. He asked if I'd like to join as a maker on CustomMade.com, a website where buyers go to bid for an artisan to design and make them a custom piece of furniture or jewelry. Serendipity, my friends. I had just been working out that I needed to find an outlet to get my fix for commissions. I love commissions and no one goes to Etsy for commissions, in my experience. The sort of shoppers I attract are people who want something ready made, but unique and that's fine. But commissions are where I really flourish. If I could do this alongside putting the ready-made lines of things on Etsy and at art and craft shows and maybe a boutique or two locally as my bread and butter, this could work. But yes, interactions galore. Rejection potential high. Failure potential high. Persistence and communication of utmost importance.
And I have other things in the pipeline that will require to make connections with people and put myself out there and take risks on getting hurt. Which is why all this inner work is so important right now. I have to get that cleared up and learn new patterns for coping so that I'm not totally halted when I hit a setback.
I leave you with a wise and important message delivered by Ben Folds Five and Fraggles:
Click to view"Certainty of death, small chance of success... What are we waiting for?" - Gimli
No really, I was just spouting off yesterday somewhere about how I need to stop fearing things that aren't going to kill me. Pain isn't death. Failure isn't death. Letting fear make me stop living life might as well be death.