With the new year comes a sense of renewal and energy, ready to take on new challenges or to work towards achieving those goals you didn't get around to last year. This is the year to do this, to achieve that. Perhaps you felt it? A certain "movement of energy" in the air, a collective sigh, so to speak, that the year was over, and now a new year has begun. I have wondered if the feeling is real or imagined, but I now believe it is real. It has been in practice for millennia actually, this ushering in of the new year. Julius Ceasar established January 1 as the official first day of the year on the Julian calendar waaaay back in 46 AD, and we still follow it today. The way and the when of new year celebrations has changed from time to time, but was last officially re-set to January 1 in the 16th century. So, we have a very long-celebrated ritual of bidding good riddance to the old year's bad luck and issuing in the new year's good luck. No wonder we feel it "in the air." Some of you may be saying, she's loca, chica, I feel that every year! Well, to be honest, I haven't felt it before. This is the first year I have taken notice, so I thought it was pretty darn cool, actually!
I actually feel inspired to take some action and make some things happen, whereas in previous years I just felt it was what was expected, so over time I just said, why bother? I'm not going to make a list of a dozen things because I will inevitably not accomplish a one of them with any modicum of success. And I'm not going to learn a new skill like yodeling or juggling - I have my jewelry to keep me busy with all it's many "branches" - it's a lifelong learning experience in itself and I have just scratched the surface. Instead, I'm going to focus in on just a couple of things I absolutely want and need to accomplish, and let other things happen as they may, very possibly as a result of my main goals being accomplished. Anything extra is a bonus, in my book. Next year there will be a new list, right? Right!
My New Year's "RESOLUTE" list
1) Eat better and excercise - everyone's standard resolution, I know, but I do need to do these things
2) Blog on a regular basis - goal is 1x week
3) Establish my jewelry business - read: get that license!
Towards these goals, I have a "word" to guide me through the year, and I have a mission statement to support my jewelry business endeavor.
And the word is: Action! (None of it can happen if I don't do anything towards making it happen...)
My Business Mission:
*To provide beautiful, quality handmade jewelry in a variety of styles and one of a kind pieces.
*To consitently exceed customers' expectations in product quality and customer service.
*To use high quality materials and methods in making unique and diverse pieces of jewelry for women and men with distinctive taste in jewelry.
I've been steadlily getting myself postitioned to start the business. I have business cards, I have an online shop ready to go full swing (ArtFire), I have this blog, and I've had a little exposure over the last year or so. I've recently found a very robust and active jewelry forum and have been networking with other jewelry artists there - and oh ,boy the talent there is phenomenal! Here's a little shout out to my peeps over at Starving Jewelry Artists! :) I've been researching and reading up on what to do to start the business for well over a year, and I know I have options and choices to make. The goal now is to take that information and make a solid decision about what route to take - and ACT. Truly, I think the hardest part is doing this. Stating it all out... marking it down. Telling others. Because, now you know and I have to follow through or I'll end up looking like a schmuck.
As for the eating and excercising. I know what to do, I've done it before. I need to get back to it. The difference between the time before and now is, I was "in the zone" back then. Now I'm not. This year will be an exploration to get back into that zone. It was oh so easy to do the exercise and eat right when I was in the zone. I think of this quest kind of like a surfer who is always on the hunt for that perfect wave, that perfect ride. A continuous search, but they do hit that zone from time to time and they never stop searching, because they know it's out there. If I could just hit that zone one more time....
So here I go...a mad dash into the new year. WoooHooo!!!!!
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| Clark Little, Photographer |
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