Expectations




This is the time of year I try to set realistic goals that are achievable.  Probably you do too.  These are not the overwhelming ones like I used to make – lose 100 pounds, make 5 art projects a week, make $100,000 a year and on and on.  No, now I make goals I think are possible – have fun with whatever I am doing, learn something new, share kindness, eat healthy and exercise (almost) every day and acknowledge joy.  I still have timelines that are measurable and I give myself a little wiggle room.  I’m in charge of my happiness and what I want to accomplish.  I used to forget that. 
It is so easy to try to please others and so difficult to look inside and understand what pleases me.  Losing 50 pounds would please me but not at any cost!  Making lots of money would please me but not at the cost of focusing my life on that.  So now, I look at what really brings me joy, happiness and pleasure.
Last year a friend of mine and I ended each email with a statement:  Joy is…..  and we would finish it with acknowledging something that brought joy that day. 
I go to bed most nights listening to classical music on early instruments because Peter brought his joy of early music into my life.  It brings me pleasure.  Nature, the beauty of living things around me, fascinates me and brings me joy. 
I’m a lot easier on myself than I used to be and my expectations are different. It’s not so important to set goals that add stress to my life but to set goals that bring me joy.  So instead of 5 art projects a week, why not one that I actually enjoy and complete?  If I do 4 others that’s ok.  It’s a bonus.   Instead of seeing the big 100 number, I’m eating healthy with smaller portions and walking most days.  Instead of focusing on dollars, I’m focusing on keeping up with my etsy stores and creating jewelry.  I know I’ll get to where I want to be.
 ‘Joy’ is knowing I’m taking care of me as I participate in the world around me having fun with whatever I’m doing.  Happy New Year!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning As We Go!

Image
Viking knit is the oldest method of chain making and I've become fascinated by it.  Once I conquered the single knit, I decided to add beads.  I could have googled or asked how it was done but it seemed like something I could just figure out.  And I've learned a lot as I proceeded first with tumbled turquoise beads and then with pearls.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.   Iif you want a great tutorial on viking knit technique, Trina Ann at http://blog.trinaann.com/  has written a clear concise easy to understand tutorial.  I highly recommend it.    Tumbled tuquoise beads in viking knit  I used tumbled turquoise beads in the first viking knit chain and I did not really know what I was doing.  But I went right ahead and as it turned out, I liked the end result.  Since the beads were irregular in shape there was a random quality to the finished product. During that process, I began to really understand the technique of viking knit.  Loo
Read more

Spring Do-Over Challenge

Image
Re-do of Original Pieces Plus My Art Beads  I’m hooked!  The Do-Over Challenge that Jeannie Dukic ‘JKD Studio’ www.jkdjewelry.com offers has become something I look forward to.  Jeannie sends pieces of her ‘old’ jewelry to those of us who sign up and we get to create something new from them.  It does not matter if we like the piece she sends because we take it apart, add beads from our stash and create a completely new piece.  It’s a great way to recycle. Original Necklace and earrings When I received my piece to re-create, it lay on my bead try for a while as I sorted through the possibilities.  There were 3 art beads that might work but only one yelled, “Me!  Take me!”  Fortunately I had more of the polymer cane that was used for that bead because I wanted smaller one to go with the big chosen art bead.  The green chips were to be filler beads highlighting my art beads.  Large 'Take Me!' bead! I made two pair of earrings.  One pair could be part of
Read more

The Draw of the Mojave Desert or Why I Started Designing Jewelry

Image
When you look at my etsy stores you see Mojave Stone jewelry .  In the 1970's, my father and two brothers mined a stone in the Mojave Desert in the middle of nowhere California!  Actually, the mine was somewhat but not very close to Desert Center.  It had been a gold/silver mine before they staked their claim and began mining stone.  My family lived in Missouri and the stone had to be trucked from the desert after strip mining it.  I was married and away from home so I got to hear the stories of making a road, fighting off bees, surviving the heat, being careful of the critters and all the other 'Wild West' excitement.  And I did not have to rough it! Dad was going to retire (some day) and make and sell the polished cabochons (a stone cut and polished usually with a flat back and a convex top) for jewelry.  In the meantime, he had some distributors sell it, some metal smiths create pieces, and he trademarked it as 'Mojave Royal Blue' and 'Mojave Stone'.  He
Read more