An Experiment In Worry ~ No One Is Keeping Score

Before I launch into my topic at hand, I want to tell you that Dralion was AMAZING!   If you get the opportunity to go see it, by all means do so.  Having the front row seats were so great.  You could see every detail of the costumes, the makeup...so wonderful.  So much inspiration.  I also got "petted" by one of the clowns.  It was funny and he was adorable.

Ok so on to the topic at hand...yesterday I decided to conduct a little Facebook experiment.  I made the following post:

"I am conducting a little experiment. So if you read this post, would you please hit the like button. I am going to do another post later and I am asking that you don't hit the like button on that one. I will explain after the fact what I was doing. Thanks!"

22 people hit the like button.  Considering I posted that at about 5:30 AM MST, I found that to be an impressive number.

About 6-7 hours later I posted the picture shown above without any explanation.  18 people hit the like button on that post.  A good number  of the people who hit the like button on the second post were the same ones who read the first post and hit the like button.  Now please understand I was in no way trying to embarrass anyone.  Had it been me, I probably would have done the same thing.  I was just curious to see how long people would retain what they read.

So why was I doing that?  Many of my posts are based on conversations I witness or participate in with other artists.  So this post is based on something some artists were discussing and worrying over.

I read a quote long ago that said 90% of all the things people worry about never come true.  I believe that to be fairly accurate.  All too often we worry over little things needlessly.  One of the main things I see artists worrying about are the things they say or that are said about them online.  There is a concern that it will be misconstrued or misinterpreted, and that people will remember what was said forever!  That somehow it will effect our business or how others view us.

I want you to think about the last few things you read and the pics you saw on Facebook, Twitter or a Blog?  Do you remember what they were?  I have an exceptional memory and I don't remember most of them.  I don't even remember everything I posted.  It's not that people are not interested in what we have to say, or in us.  It's just that people read it and then think about picking their kids up from school or what to make for dinner...they have their own lives that take precedent above what we are doing all the time.  That's the way it should be. While people do like our work and are curious about us sometimes, we don't have the kind of influence we may like to think we do.  That's a good thing!  I certainly don't think I am that big of an influence on anyone's life.  Too much pressure!  *grins*

When we post something, and then circumstances change...as they do once in a while in everyone's lives and we have to contradict what we had previously said, no one is keeping score unless we do it every single time, which most of us don't.

When we make some sort of faux pas, people usually look past it to see who we are as a whole, especially if they have been friends or loyal followers.  They may even think ill of us for a moment or two, but most of them are not keeping score.  Nor do they hold grudges forever when they realize that we are not inherently bad people.

When someone else posts something less than favorable about us, whether they name us by name or not...it can seem devastating at the time.  It seems as if everyone saw and they are judging us whether we did what we were accused of or not.  But the truth is, only a small handful of people ever see anything that is posted online.  They remember it about as long as they do reading something less than favorable about a movie star in a tabloid in the grocery store check out line.  No one is keeping score.  If they are, they may not want to throw stones at glass houses because we all do these things at some point.

We are human beings...we are flawed and fallible.  We will make mistakes, we will be sorry for them, we will try to learn from them, we will be forgiven by the people who like us and our work.  We will be talked about at times, like it or not.  It will not ruin our businesses, it will not ruin our reputations if we are good, honest, hard working people most of the time.

No one is going to think less of us for not being perfect or selling every single thing we make within five minutes of posting it.  Business doesn't always work that way.  It doesn't mean our work is bad, it just means that the right person for that bear hasn't found it yet.

So the next time this happens to you, and you are worrying or losing sleep over it...please don't.  Just be your sweet, lovable self and move on, let it go.  I promise you...hardly anyone saw it, and if they did...no one is keeping score!

Hugs, K. <3

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

I have always been the sort of person that by the time something turns into a fad I have already been wearing it or doing it...or I have completely avoided the whole thing. It's not by design, it's just an innate sense I have of such things. I was the first kid at my school to wear a new kind of jeans, and I was one of the first people to "distress" bears. I completely avoided glitter makeup and needle felting. Every once in a blue moon I will jump on a fad bandwagon after it becomes a fad though.

Last Fall I did exactly that. I had been seeing lots of pictures people took of their feet. While I didn't really understand it, I was oddly intrigued by it. So when I was outside looking at fallen leaves in my backyard I snapped a pic of my feet half buried in the leaves and posted it. After I did it I felt a little cheesy for jumping on the bandwagon since it had been done so much.

I have made a few posts in the past about Artful Blogging magazine. I love this magazine despite how it leaves me feeling a little bereft after reading it because I feel like I can never measure up to the bloggers featured.

I buy it without even peeking inside. The new issue came out last week and I was excited to pick it up this weekend. I came home, plopped down on the couch with the quilt all ready to indulge in this guilty pleasure.

Two pages in the phone rang. As I was talking on the phone I flipped through the pages to see what I had to look forward to. It struck me how many "feet pictures" there were in it yet again. Eleven to be exact. I realized this is why I jumped on the bandwagon. Every issue has had several "feet pictures" since the inception of the magazine. But this time they were no longer intriguing. In fact they were kind of disappointing in their rhetoric.

Artful Blogging, like many of the Somerset publications costs $14.99. That's a pretty expensive magazine. They have cornered the market on craft and art inspiration type magazines. They have lush images and use a delightful heavy paper. But for 15 bucks a pop I want to see something new now.

That is my one complaint about all of their magazines, they tend to stick to a basic style, even to the point of crossover features on the same people in several publications. While I guess that's ok up to a point, and it's definitely good to have a continuity to their style...for my money I want to see them change it up once in a while.

There are many wonderful artists out there that could be featured, there are also a million and six different types of images they could use that would still conform to the format of the magazines.

When the next issue comes out, I won't buy it automatically. I will look through it before I do. I am not sure I want to spend another $15.00 to support the editors foot fetish and see the same old thing as every other issue. I am afraid that those of us who read their magazines on a regular basis are subconsciously conforming to that style by tiny degrees.

My last two posts have been about getting a new perspective on the world. Maybe it's time that some of our windows to the world get a new perspective too.

Monday Inspiration: Coffee With A Friend

When I was a little girl it was nothing unusual for someone to stop by for coffee at my Grandmother's or my Mother's house. Later when I was in college we always went out for coffee to chat and study. Even later still, my best friend and I would always stop for coffee after a night out of dancing. For years after we moved here I had another friend who I would meet for coffee at least once a week, and sometimes as many as four times a week. Sadly she was much older than I and she is gone now.

Every time I read Artful Blogging I am convinced that I am not doing it right. Maybe I should quit reading it. People tell stories of their blogs and how they strive to inspire people every single day, or how their blogs are personal journeys of a spiritual nature or self discovery. Some of them try to teach about their art and share their techniques. Other post amazing pictures they take and beautify the world at large. Whatever the story is behind each blog featured, it's always something huge and monumental...life changing even. It makes me feel bad, as if I am lacking by not doing that.

I would love to write something like that. But I can't, I don't know how. Maybe I don't view my blog in the right way, and that's why I can't. I am not sure.

When I sit down to make a post, I almost always have a cup of coffee...I figure it's the best time to post since I am taking a break and not focused on anything else. It's a little bit of time to relax. I approach it from the perspective of sitting down with a friend to have coffee. If I was having coffee with a friend, I would talk about what I did or needed to do that day, something that irked me or made me afraid, something that I thought was cute or funny, something that I got fascinated with, or simply show my friend my latest piece of work.

I am pretty sure I have never changed anyone's life over coffee in the past, and I probably won't ever do it through my blog. Sometimes I do make self discoveries through what I write, but I have never considered it a journey to be taken...more like a nice surprise I wasn't expecting.

I start off each week with Monday Love or Monday Inspiration, but those are more things that I love or inspire me than I expect them to inspire you. I just like to try to start the week off on a positive note.

Neighbors may not drop in to each others houses anymore for coffee like they used to, and I may not meet up with my friends in the real world much any more since they all live so far away, but I have made some lovely friends through blogging and I look forward to having coffee with them for a few minutes each day through this medium.

When I first started blogging, I wasn't sure I would keep doing it. I had tried keeping a regular journal in the past and always gave up after a few weeks. So when I came to blogging I didn't know what to expect of myself. I didn't know what to say, or if anyone would ever read it. But then again, when I had my first cup of coffee I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, or what to put in that either.

I may never type anything huge or monumental, and may not be following some mystical formula...but maybe I am doing ok anyway? I wouldn't trade those hours spent with many a friend over coffee, and I wouldn't trade my time blogging with you either.