It has been a long time since I wrote here and I hope you enjoyed my latest giveaway.
You are probably wondering why the huge delay between posts, well rest assured I'm doing fine and nothing major has happened. Actually it is quite the contrary. 2016 started with full of wonderful surprise on my side and some elements has lead me to questioned this incredibly fast-paced lifestyle I've had so far.
Kirameku is a wonderful journey - do not get me wrong! I love every second of it, and every interaction I have with you is most precious to me. It is simply that I have been trying many tactics to ensure I reach all of you properly and get you as excited as I am about my new projects. But this rigorous schedule unfortunately led to major lack of sleeps, especially around the time of craft shows. To get you in context, in 2015 a typical week looked like this :
* 14-20 posts on Facebook, 5 posts on Instagram, 25 posts in the Etsy forums, 1 blog post, Create 5 items, 1 photoshoot session, 1 post on Pinterest, 1 post on Wanelo, involvement in Facebook and Etsy forums, a full time job
And on top of this, depending on the weeks, you do need to add : Shipping orders, Developing new promotional material, Get craft fair applications ready, Stock inventory, Attending craft shows, Fill in custom orders, Develop new collections, Cooking - and I do cook a lot, Typical household chores, Transportation... You get the drill.
So let's just do the maths together : there's 24h in a day, you sleep 8h, and work 8h, travel about 2h, and try to do the best you can with whatever is left - even if sometimes it meant cutting back on sleep.
Why do I share all of this with you? Well because I want you to see that I was doing too much. Weeks quickly turned into months and first thing I knew, Christmas was over and 2016 was already here. 2015 was a wonderful year, and I'm very grateful for everything accomplished in it and all your love and support.
I decided to take a small break from this routine in January 2016 and re-evaluate it all. It suddenly hit me - how many hours a day I spent in front of a computer instead of enjoying summer for instance. I came to the conclusion that instead of sharing articles with no substantial content, I would take this time instead to create new pieces, or work on giveaways and spread the handmade love.
I will also take this time to reconnect with nature through food - one of my biggest inspiration for my creative process. Hopefully, 2016 will be full of new flavours, colours and discoveries that will translate in my jewelry and artwork.
Don't you miss taking the time to enjoy a good cup of tea with a freshly baked scone while bathing in the sunlight? If you are like me, I totally do. I believe that taking back the time to enjoy the simple pleasure in life is important, that exploring new horizon is better than any pay check and that life is too short to let it slip by.
On this everyone, I raise you my steaming cup of Earl Grey tea- To a more peaceful, carpe-diem paced 2016,
* M *
Hi! Funnily enough, I came to the same conclusions. I decided to decrease my social network presence to the bare minimum and enjoy life while I still can. I bought a summer house and spent weeks weeding, painting, cleaning, and just walking and swimming and thinking.
ReplyDeleteYour jars with fruits are beautiful!
Hi Eugenie!
DeleteI'm glad my article could show you you are not alone in this ''social network retreat'' :) I hope this plan is working well for you too. Congrats on the house, your week plans sound simply amazing! May you have beautiful weather so you can walk all afternoon if you'd like :)
Thanks for the comment on the jars, but I have no credit for those unfortunately, it's a free stock photo hihi :) One day I'll can enough and share their pictures, but for now, I'm off with just three recipes, because of lack of time. Have a wonderful night! :)