I have been reading a lot of blogs about trying to avoid overwhelm this January. Lots of creatives seem to be fed up with being broke and broken slaves to their creative practices. I have been a fan of Emma Gannon for a while and have watched her career with interest, from multi-tasking portfolio gal to a strong advocate of creative rest. Burnout is no joke. I feel done with overworking. Success for me is very different from 15 years ago. Money has never been a focus for me, but I do need an income and how do I make enough money doing the work that makes me get up in the morning?
With Imogen between schools, we have been living in betwixtmas for weeks. I knew productivity would be low, and stress would be high. I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to relax a little more, not let the frustration of not being able to get my work done overwhelm me and to see any tiny achievement as a huge win. So far, I’ve managed to redecorate my studio, made a sale via instagram, started and nearly finished a spinning and weaving project, revamped the website, set up a mailing list (so I can move away from social media as my main means of communication), and uploaded lots of Imogen’s new designs to teemill. That’s way more than I could have imagined this time last month.
One of the things I am most pleased with, is diving into some research, particularly the link between textiles and mental health, long practiced but only recently being talked about more. I really want to spend 2024 investigating this further, creeping a little further towards a community loom room.
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