When One of the Balls Drop

When One of the Balls Drop

As a small business owner, I wear all the hats.  A one-woman show, and every other cliché that you can think of when everything depends on you, and you alone.  Moms know what I am talking about.   

We keep all these little balls in the air all the time, while we juggle our jobs, kids, families, passions.  And when we get sick, balls start to drop.  And because we are so used to and adept at multi-tasking, every ball that drops makes us drive ourselves harder and harder. 

We need to stop it.  We can’t possibly do it all.  That is why support systems and contingency plans are so important.  A lesson that I learned the hard way over the past couple of weeks while stuck in bed with the flu.  After several days of beating myself up for not being able to keep up, I started listening to my body to rest and recover.  I was doing myself no good denying that I was sick.  There was no denying it. 

So I gave in and let myself be sick, realizing that drive and ambition and a quest to make my business a success had taken over my life.  Those things are important, don’t get me wrong…but not at the expense of taking care of my health with just the basics.  Getting enough sleep, exercising, and self-care.  I had let keeping all my “balls” in the air take over, working into the wee hours and pounding back coffee when I was up early in the morning to start all over again.  And my body finally said “no more.”  And put me on my proverbial ass.

So here I am, 2 weeks later, well rested for sure – drinking tea with breakfast while I put out the little fires that cropped up over the weekend.  And I am also taking the day to work on putting systems into place so that my work load is better managed for when I cannot be in the office.  There are so many tools out there for social media management, inventory management, accounting, even shipping that can help us one-woman shows to keep all those balls in the air.  Without knocking us off our feet.

So use those tools.  Free up your time and your sanity.  Take care of yourself and your health so you don’t have to learn the tough lesson that I did.  But if one of your balls does drop, let it drop.  You can always pick it up later.   

Master of One vs. Renaissance Woman

Master of One vs. Renaissance Woman  

As babies, we are sponges.  Gathering information and experience from everything around us, trying everything at least once.  In the midst of the first five formative years of our lives, we bank those experiences and skills away to use at later times.  We focus on becoming a well-rounded human being – someone that is prepared to meet the world head on.  

But it seems like many people are far more concerned with branding themselves as something, anything.  Making themselves stand out by focusing on only one aspect of their experience or their skills.  And then marketing themselves as that and ONLY that to the world. 

I have such a hard time when people ask me what I do.  Of course, they are asking what I do for a living.  Because that question helps us to categorize each other into neat, little boxes.  Humans begin to categorize from a very young age and it just keeps going...and that is ok.  But that one aspect of our life, our job, is not necessarily a great indicator of who someone is as a person.  

But that is such a narrow aspect of what life is.  Life is the journey.  As cliché as that is.  Goals and pinpoints on a to-do list, ambitions and aspirations are not the point.  They are the window dressing, the things that happen that help to shape who you are, but are not WHO you are.

Take myself for example – I sell jewelry supplies.  That’s my job.  But does that tell you much about me?  I joke with my friends that I sell jewelry supplies because I have collected beads my entire life and I have limited hobbies, but that isn’t what gets me up in the morning or keeps me up late at night.

It isn’t what inspires me or drives me through my life.  No one thing does.   

I am an artist, a woman, a wife, a mother, a student, a writer, a cook, painter, singer, decorator, spastic dancer, homebody and adventurer.  Human beings are not singular focus creatures.  Our brains are must too large and intricate for that.  And who says you have to categorize yourself or brand yourself as one thing?  Who says? 

Once upon a time, people focused on enriching their lives through education, community, art, experience, travel, anything really.  Our founding fathers are never described as only one thing.  They were inventors, writers, lawyers, scholars, artists, revolutionaries, craftsman, musicians – they weren’t JUST a founding father.  Their lives were rich with experience and skills.  Skills they USED.  Skills they celebrated.  They were renaissance men.  

So please, stop worrying about being a master of one and start your own personal renaissance.

Cultural Appropriation in Art & Jewelry Design

Cultural Appropriation in Art & Jewelry Design

As artists, we are inspired by everything around us – from nature to books, other designers, other cultures.  Inspiration abounds.  Artistic movements like Art Nouveau, Impressionism, and Art Deco where inspired by nature and the female form, geometric shapes and a need to see beyond the surface.  Those movements were also inspired by the art forms of other cultures.

Art has always been about expressing ideas and feelings in a way that captures the imagination and touches the soul.  Human beings are compelled to create things that endure.  To question the world around them as they endeavor to create beauty. 

But there is always a fine line between appreciating and celebrating a culture other than your own in your work, and cultural appropriation.

Cultural Appropriation is defined as the adoption or use of only certain elements of a culture not one’s own in a way that demeans or is disrespectful because of lack of understanding.

Artists have to be especially careful when marketing items they have made that are inspired by other cultures.  There are specific Federal Laws, like the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts & Crafts Act of 1990 which protect cultural arts from copycats and misrepresentation.  If you are not a recognized member of a Native American tribe, you cannot market your art/craft as Native American and to do so will subject you to fines and/or prison terms.  That goes for meta tags and hashtags as well.

We, as artists, also have to be respectful in how we are portraying a culture not our own in our work and should endeavor to educate ourselves in the culture that inspires us so we don’t inadvertently create something offensive.  If you have questions, ask.  Be curious.  Open a dialog.  Learn and appreciate the many cultures that the U.S. has to offer – but realize that each culture has their own unique narrative.  And cultural appropriation can overshadow that narrative.  

 So be mindful and respectful.  And be inspired.