Fall down seven times; get up eight

Sometimes I’m really excited about something I’m making. I’m either happy with how it’s turning out, excited about what I’m learning in order to make it, learning new skills or stretching old ones, or just generally having fun.

And then five minutes after I finish it, when the paint is still wet, the cat might jump up on my workspace and rub against the wet paint, smearing it all over the piece and causing me to sigh, deeeeeeply.

Now, I was lucky in this instance because I was using a new (to me) technique of painting over an already glazed piece; so I was able to scrub the paint off and start all over again. But sometimes I’m not so lucky — ceramic pieces knocked to the ground and broken, yarn chewed through, soap dropped on the floor.

At one point in my life I would probably have taken those as signs that I should stop what I’m doing… but these days, I just pick myself up, brush myself off, and start all over again. This, HaldeCraft, is what I want to do with my life. I don’t see myself retiring from it in twenty years. I don’t see myself as ever going back into the “real” workplace, unless by force. I can’t let one little thing in the grand scheme of the rest of my life get me so down that I can’t get back up.

I’m not saying there aren’t bad days – there are hard and rough days in this just like there were when I was working at bookstores, working at an Engineering company, owning a yarn store. It’s life; some days are going to be harder than others. But some days – a lot of days – are really, really wonderful. And those days far outweigh the days that don’t go swimmingly.

What about you? Do the little things get you down? Or are you able to shake it off and stand back up easily?