Friday, April 25, 2008

Where Do We Go From Here?

First off, does anyone else have the song from the Buffy musical stuck in their head right now? No...alright, moving on then. Yesterday, I managed to reach my goal of 250 sales in exactly 2 years. I spent way too much time in the forums to do it and I'm fairly certain they were pity sales, but I'll take them. Maybe ten minutes after reaching what should have been a wonderful milestone, I found myself in a familiar funk. The melancholy that is, "what now?".

We've all been there after a big event or milestone, a birthday, wedding, vacation. Anything that seems to consume your every waking moment looking forward to or planning produces this sensation. As soon as the event is over you experience the emotional equivalent of the crash after a sugar high. Even though I have several small projects that need doing, I have like zero motivation this morning, because I have no event to look forward to. My next milestone sales are very far away, I just past 1000 hearts, so it'll be awhile before I get a big number there either. It's a month before the next big family birthday and I've got no other events on the horizon.

Why do we seem hardwired to need the high of an event, why can't we live in the present? I know what I'm suppose to do, plan for tomorrow and live for today. Like most sage advice it's easier said than done. I mean, I know that these so called milestone sales are just arbitrary numbers, they don't have any real meaning. 100 is not any more momentous than say 112, yet we make such a fuss over round numbers. The logical thing to do would be to celebrate each and every sale with the same amount of joy or to celebrate significant increases over previous sales regardless of their number. We're not gonna do that though, we love round numbers and will continue to look forward to them regardless of logic.

I'll tell you what I think I'm gonna do though. I'm going to make myself some creative goals to look forward to. First, some I might achieve like coming up with a new tatted scarf design or actually completing a piece today. Then, some ridiculous ones that I can look forward to for years, like getting a celebrity to wear my pieces in public or make tatting the next big crafting craze. That ought to keep me looking forward well into my golden years, right?

9 comments:

Grizzly Mountain Arts said...

I've been a fan of your beautiful work for some time now :) Thanks for stopping by our blog!

Angela Catirina said...

I'm just gushing at your work! You're just amazing!

Mixed Species said...

We LOVE your work and are goal junkies as well. Your words ring true!

that_rat said...

You want something to look forward too? You forgot Ironman! We can go see it on the 3rd...I'll wear my Ghost Rider shirt, Zairah can wear her Spider-Man shirt, and you can wear you "I <3 My Geek" shirt to round out the geekness...it will be awesome! :^)

Diana said...

Congratulations on your incredible milestone! It's no surprise, as the product you create is truly unique and absolutely lovely.

I really enjoy your candor and no-nonsense sensibility.

So, I'm in my 30s, a mother of two, tattooed and used to have purple hair for more than a decade. We have more than a few things in common.

Love your blog and your jewelry! I'm hoping to win the contest at Kat Roman's site. I'm not just kissing up to increase my odds. :)

Are You An Artist said...

I absolutely love this blog! You are as funny and wise as you are talented. You know, I bought a tatting shuttle 2 months ago...it still sits here, by my computer, looking at me with such disdain :)

I'll be back for more!

Connie from over at The Art Of Color

Distressing Delilah a.k.a. jenn said...

Too funny! Great goals! and congrats on reaching your milestone..off to see your shop now@

Absolutely Small said...

Oooh, I can so relate. I'm addicted to goals and deadlines, too. Congratulations on reaching those milestones, though! That's huge!

Rosebud Collection said...

What beautiful work..something you really don't see that often..I probably said that before..but it is true. It has such a delicate look..