Stop and Smell the Roses

I’m running a bit behind this week for two reasons. I’ve been busy with lots of projects, catching up, and events. I was also struggling with what to write. The overwhelm has me focusing more on to-do lists than nuggets of advice, information or encouragement. But yesterday I was looking back on my past two weeks, searching for that tidbit that would become this week’s post and I found myself reveling in what Shelly and I had created and what my job had become.

In June of 2010, Shelly and I launched the coaching and consulting side of Lightbox SF. (That makes this month a very quiet anniversary for us). It was both exciting and terrifying. We had a lot of theories and had made a lot of assumptions and now we were going to test them. The perfect set up for greatness or serious failure. In this last year I can happily say we landed somewhere in between. We had some amazing successes, met some amazing people, learned a lot about what we really want to be doing, and what just isn’t working.

So when I took a moment to look back at my two weeks the things that were keeping me from getting this post written were helping some amazingly talented artists promote themselves and upcoming shows, the details of organizing different phases of both our 4^th and 5^th 200 Yards photo shows, interviewing gallerists for an article I’m writing for the ArtSpan Open Studios guide, and just generally connecting with great people who will be or are pieces of this great equation.

The fabulousness of it all is pretty amazing. I must say if I didn’t have my job I’d be a bit jealous. Sure we’re not nearly as profitable as we’d like to be and there is always more to do than we can accomplish, but overall it’s pretty damn great. And the best part about it is we created it.

I tell you all that because just the day before I was feeling overwhelmed with my to-do list, wondering how I was going to make some of my current goals happen, and feeling a little down on the state of my bank account. We so often forget to look at our successes, stop and smell the roses if you will. Take it all in, acknowledge what you’ve accomplished and the amazing things further ahead on the path.

Are you about to be a part of a craft fair that you used to attend and think “Some day I’d like to have my own table?” Are you struggling with how to transport your product and set-up to a show in another city instead of struggling with how to let people know you make something? Are you staying up late to write blog posts because you know your readers will notice if you don’t? These stresses are signs of progress and growth; these are the stresses of making something great happen.

This week’s lesson: Take a moment, survey where you are compared to where you were a year ago. The craziness and chaos looks so much better in the light of realizing your dreams.

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I encourage comments directly to this post, but also feel free to email me directly with questions, reactions, struggles, etc. genevieve@lightboxsf.com

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