The Sunroom

Question of the day from WordPress, “What have you been putting off? Why?” It’s as if The Universe is looking for a fight. Rather than stepping back as I remove my hoop earrings, I’m going to take a deep breath – the kind the ladies with high cheek bones and expensive athleisure wear tell you to do. The breathing with a purposeful count in, hold, and count out the release. Because this space is meant to be about seeking growth, speaking truths, and listening thoughtfully. I’m also going to try to limit the grimaces.

Breathe in: one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, four mississippi. Pause. Breathe out: one mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi, four mississippi, five mississippi, six mississippi. Pause.

I hope that works – my cheekbones are non-discernable without x-rays, and my leisure wear will not even be pretending to have anything to do with athleticism today.

I’m going to choose one item from my years long “I really want to do this” list to mull over today: re-opening my Etsy shop.

I spent a lovely amount of time in the ’00s-’10s with a small Etsy shop selling sewn felt (owl)ies (Yes, that was their “brand/style” name). They were fulfilling – kept my hands busy as I cut and sewed felt, fabric, and buttons in a variety of styles and wrote sweet bios for each (owl)ie’s personality. They were adopted out all over the world, and, I also enjoyed attending holiday shopping fairs or other vendor spots (at places like our favourite winery). I made mostly my own characters, but also did custom orders – even for some companies as gifts. It filled a need for me to keep my hands busy and kept me being a little creative.

As a Dragon Crafter (aka Keeper of the Craft Hoard), I still have so many bits from that time (including many a small emblem (owl)ie for the wine gift bags I use to sell). I could easily update those darlings and sell them again, but that hasn’t been what’s been on my mind for so long.

For more years than I would like to openly admit (especially to myself) – I’ve been gathering journals, a variety of used books I find interesting, cards to craft into oracle/inspiration cards, seemingly never ending collageable items for vision boards, and other tchotckes to share with the world. Mostly I want to upcycle items that could find new life and purpose and share out Happy Mail to bring some moment of joy and reflectiveness into other people’s lives.

There is a need within me to be of service to people in some sort of a motivational or influencer or coaching way. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. I want to live authentically and help others do so as well.

The why I’ve been putting it off is still cowering under some blankets in the dark corner. I think much of it is lingering depression and pandemic trauma. Some of it is my continuing workaholicism – this is where I find so much reassurance and worth in my ability to do my paid job that I burn through everything else that I should be spending time, care, and energy on (like my spouse, kid, health, enjoyment, etc.). It’s so easy to put it off until I have a few more items in inventory, or some “free time” to complete crafting a thing. I have buckets of items (almost literally). There are boxes of crafting bits and filing cabinets filled with vision boarding materials, closets filled with duplicate books and journals for creating kits, and let’s not talk about the state of my office floor.

It’s time. It is time. Really. Part of why it became so important for me to spend time in The Sunroom (I deleted standard social media apps – from Meta – in January), is because, as the consumate “coach”, I truly need an audience for what I plan to do. It seems to be written in my planets and nothing I can do to prevent that – so instead I’ll use it to bolster my motivation.