On any given day, there are so many creative thoughts running through my head that I can't consciously pick one to focus on. It's true. Sometimes the creative mind is a force to be reckoned with.
On days or weeks when I have custom orders due (as I do, now), I have a strict schedule outlined. I know which projects I need to complete, by when, for whom and how long they will take. It's something I have found helps me to focus and helps ensure I do not let paying orders (or any orders, for that matter) fall by the wayside. Because if left to my own devices I would be dying yarn, making earrings, doing duct tape crafts, and working on new patterns all while practicing the songs I sing in my band...... and NOT working on the Spider-Man, Minnie Mouse and Elmo I *should* be completing.
That's kind of hard to follow, isn't it?
Additionally, I try to keep my working hours in the confines of a regular office job to make sure I have a life outside the job that I know and truly love. If I didn't, I wouldn't have time for creating or working on new or personal projects. I even try to keep "personal" items out of my working hours - such as baby, birthday or holiday presents - unless I actually have NOTHING else on my plate. And who are we kidding? That seldom ever happens.
It's easy, when you work from home (or wherever you want, whenever you want) to let your "work" and "personal" hours flow together. I try SUPER hard not to let that happen, but it does.... and far more often than I would like. It's hard to say "no" to a last minute order for an easy stuffed animal that you get at 8pm the day before the customer wants it delivered. I can pump it out fast, while watching TV, but what I often dont consider is that while I'm counting stitches, is that I'm ignoring my long time boyfriend. Sure, we MAY just be watching TV, but whether you realize it or not, that time is actually important and shouldn't be taken for granted. Im just as guilty of that as the next one!
My point with this - as my creative, ADD mind jumps all over the place - is that even if you love what you do and your work reflects the person you are, you cannot let that work become your whole life. Never lose sight of yourself, the life you want - no, the life you deserve - in what you do to sustain such a life. Because at the end of the day, no matter how much you loved it and how happy and fulfilled it made you, it's not going to matter how many stuffed animals or blankets you crocheted, or how many shawls or sweaters you knitted... your epitaph won't be these items, but the impressions you made.... the lives you touched.... the connections and differences you made in your time here. You get one chance to do it all. Fly away on that zephyr.
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