It's the end of this year, Christmas in fact, and I'm happy. I can definitely say I am happy. My house looks good, the back yard is the way I like it and I'm working on my craft in a way I love.
Yep, I am definitely gleaming the cube... in the zone... totally in my element! This is something I love about being an artist. It's very cool to be enjoying something that you love doing because it's hard to find that sweet spot, and when you do, you really don't want to leave it.
But it's a matter of finding that sweet spot that takes time. I've talked about this before, and I've found that what made me happy isn't necessarily what might make another person happy. For me, it's books, painting, gardening, music and reading... and I also love the healthy eating side of things too. I love to cook and learning new recipes for food I love to eat - like pizza. I love pizza, but knowing how to make pizza dough? Well, that's a great thing! Once you know how to make that dough and remember how to make it, time it to perfection, then, you know you have something you can really work with.
Take for example, this year. I opened Crafty Pegs. And I didn't go halfway, I went the whole hog and jumped straight into Facebook and created a page on there! It was the most nerve-racking thing I'd ever done, and yet there is right there with photos, updates, people liking my page and commenting and enjoying my photos of new designs, events coming up and my works as I go each day. I have people even enjoying how the process is done in my car port with the varnishing... they love how basic it all is. This is so cool that people think what I do is cool... how cool! (I know, I said 'cool' a lot... that's weird!).
But I have enjoyed putting together my craft area, getting it working, gleaning advice off my friends (who are also crafters) and working as much as I can and then, when my folks returned back from overseas, they were impressed to find I had done all this on my own. And I wanted their advice about what to do next... after all they had run a beekeeping/honey selling business for 20 years; who else would I ask but them?
However, finding my happiness wasn't easy. It took years... as this kinda thing usually does. And I found it tougher than anything else in my life. Sure, I've battled Melanoma... and beat that. I was born with Epilepsy - which is genetic - and am living with that. But this is something that was tough. How the heck to you find something you lose when you're a teenager? Yeah... a tough question. I had to really go back into my diaries and journals and find the exact time I wrote in them and find the time my writings changed. And you know, I spotted it! I won't tell you when, but I found exactly when my attitude changed and I didn't trust anyone and my lift turned around ... and I was right in the middle of being a teenager, aged 16 1/2.
But I had to find out why I became this way. No therapy in the world was going to help me with this. So, what I did was find the stuff that made me happy to begin with; and this took a lot of digging. I knew books did it, but I didn't like what I was looking at in my library of books. So, I set up some trades on Bookcrossing.com and made the library I wanted to read.
I started looking around second-hand record stores and finding vinyls I've always wanted and buying them - and bought myself a turntable - and playing music I liked (who cares if nobody else liked it, I love it). Then, I started writing more poetry, bought books on how to write what I wanted to write; books with prompts to get me started! And once I started writing what I wanted to write, my life turned around completely. I found myself taking up yoga, eating better, throwing out all the crap food in my pantry and starting from scratch and talking to my doctor about becoming a vegetarian.
Yes... this was around 8 years ago. And now, I can quite easily say that I'm happy with my life. This year, I've challenged myself beyond anything I've ever done. I fixed up my front garden, built a rock wall, bought an outdoor setting, got out the plumber and made the lawn grow in my back yard instead of weeds. My place looks like a lovely little cottage garden instead of a weed infestation... and I love it. It's made me happier than anything I've done thus far. And the best thing is: I'm finishing a trilogy of books over the next few months and starting another book soon. How wicked is that?
So, what have you done lately that has made you happy? I mean seriously happy? Has it taken years, decades or a shorter amount of time? How did you go about it to acheive your happiness? Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
Yep, I am definitely gleaming the cube... in the zone... totally in my element! This is something I love about being an artist. It's very cool to be enjoying something that you love doing because it's hard to find that sweet spot, and when you do, you really don't want to leave it.
But it's a matter of finding that sweet spot that takes time. I've talked about this before, and I've found that what made me happy isn't necessarily what might make another person happy. For me, it's books, painting, gardening, music and reading... and I also love the healthy eating side of things too. I love to cook and learning new recipes for food I love to eat - like pizza. I love pizza, but knowing how to make pizza dough? Well, that's a great thing! Once you know how to make that dough and remember how to make it, time it to perfection, then, you know you have something you can really work with.
Take for example, this year. I opened Crafty Pegs. And I didn't go halfway, I went the whole hog and jumped straight into Facebook and created a page on there! It was the most nerve-racking thing I'd ever done, and yet there is right there with photos, updates, people liking my page and commenting and enjoying my photos of new designs, events coming up and my works as I go each day. I have people even enjoying how the process is done in my car port with the varnishing... they love how basic it all is. This is so cool that people think what I do is cool... how cool! (I know, I said 'cool' a lot... that's weird!).
But I have enjoyed putting together my craft area, getting it working, gleaning advice off my friends (who are also crafters) and working as much as I can and then, when my folks returned back from overseas, they were impressed to find I had done all this on my own. And I wanted their advice about what to do next... after all they had run a beekeeping/honey selling business for 20 years; who else would I ask but them?
However, finding my happiness wasn't easy. It took years... as this kinda thing usually does. And I found it tougher than anything else in my life. Sure, I've battled Melanoma... and beat that. I was born with Epilepsy - which is genetic - and am living with that. But this is something that was tough. How the heck to you find something you lose when you're a teenager? Yeah... a tough question. I had to really go back into my diaries and journals and find the exact time I wrote in them and find the time my writings changed. And you know, I spotted it! I won't tell you when, but I found exactly when my attitude changed and I didn't trust anyone and my lift turned around ... and I was right in the middle of being a teenager, aged 16 1/2.
But I had to find out why I became this way. No therapy in the world was going to help me with this. So, what I did was find the stuff that made me happy to begin with; and this took a lot of digging. I knew books did it, but I didn't like what I was looking at in my library of books. So, I set up some trades on Bookcrossing.com and made the library I wanted to read.
I started looking around second-hand record stores and finding vinyls I've always wanted and buying them - and bought myself a turntable - and playing music I liked (who cares if nobody else liked it, I love it). Then, I started writing more poetry, bought books on how to write what I wanted to write; books with prompts to get me started! And once I started writing what I wanted to write, my life turned around completely. I found myself taking up yoga, eating better, throwing out all the crap food in my pantry and starting from scratch and talking to my doctor about becoming a vegetarian.
Yes... this was around 8 years ago. And now, I can quite easily say that I'm happy with my life. This year, I've challenged myself beyond anything I've ever done. I fixed up my front garden, built a rock wall, bought an outdoor setting, got out the plumber and made the lawn grow in my back yard instead of weeds. My place looks like a lovely little cottage garden instead of a weed infestation... and I love it. It's made me happier than anything I've done thus far. And the best thing is: I'm finishing a trilogy of books over the next few months and starting another book soon. How wicked is that?
So, what have you done lately that has made you happy? I mean seriously happy? Has it taken years, decades or a shorter amount of time? How did you go about it to acheive your happiness? Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
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