I followed my bliss....until it wasn’t my bliss anymore..... Now what??????

I followed my bliss of making jewelry which led to making beads, which led me to every Saturday at the farmers market for 8 years along with almost every Port Townsend craft fair, and some in Tacoma and Seattle. Then I, along with my family, followed our other bliss of snowboarding to Bend, Or.

I followed my bliss to bigger and better craft fairs throughout the west coast and even as far away as Baltimore and Chicago. 

It’s amazing what being fueled by passion can do. It was a lot of planning, packing, money, work and time. Overall it was a great and extremely rewarding experience....peppered by a few sketchy situations. Both the artists and customers (and sometimes artists were customers) I met along the way were so inspiring, and encouraging.

But one day, I found myself saying the words ‘I’m starting to loathe’ packing up for craft fairs, and setting up and taking down my booth. Loathe is not a word I use, maybe ever, especially not to describe anything I do. That is when I knew, even though at first I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, that it was time to take a break from craft fairs.

At first the idea seemed crazy, like there was no way could I do that. But then it became easy. It was really simple. I just didn’t apply for the craft fairs. I let the deadlines pass......every time I would get an e-mail telling me about a  craft fair application deadline approaching I would delete it. Honestly, it was actually really satisfying.

So here I am, towards the end of my first summer in at least 13 years that I haven’t participated in one craft fair or market. Not one. It’s no wonder I’ve felt a little confused about what I’m doing lately. Now it’s time to apply for next years shows. Some of the deadlines have already passed, and guess what? So far, I’ve continued let them pass and haven’t applied to one.

I’m not saying I’m never going to do a craft fair again. I already felt a twinge of wanting to do one when I saw Art in The High Desert is happening this weekend. But for now I am taking a break. I’m focusing on the other areas of my art and business, the ones I do still enjoy and feel motivated about. At first I couldn’t even see any other possibilities, but now I’m seeing a lot.

The really good and very relieving to me news is that I am still completely and passionately in love with making glass beads and jewelry. When I sit down at the torch I feel like I am in exactly the right place and making even the smallest most basic bead makes me really happy. The other day, I sat down to make some large circles and flowers. They took me more than an hour each, but I was so engrossed that it seemed like only 10min. must have passed. 
One thing I do know is that I feel really good and am happy right now. I’m at peace with how things are and the uncertainty of not knowing how things are going to work out. It’s kinda fun and exciting that way. I’m open to the possibilities and hoping for the best :)