How do you measure success?
What defines success for you?
I've been chasing a dream. A dream of me being successful in many aspects of my life. In a job that has been my career all my life in the environment. As a wife. A mother. A friend. A sister. A daughter. A seamstress. A designer. An artist. A writer. An active community volunteer.
My husband asks me frequently. When will you know you've been successful? I thought I had clear milestones that as I reached them I'd know. But as in life, things change. Your pathway to get where you are headed is full of curves and steep hills to climb.
Nothing comes without sacrifice and hard work. You don't get anywhere by sitting back and taking the easy way out.
I have always known that come one day I will not be judged for how many students I have helped along the way or how well I stitched up an idea or how good dinner was that evening. Every day is a success and I don't have to have it all in order to define success for me. Or so I keep telling myself. It's already been achieved. I am loved for being just as good as I am today and no more. By my family, friends and most importantly, by the God that created me to be me. And I wonder if I needed to go through all those steep hills and curves to come to that conclusion. Because I sure haven't felt that way or had that truth before.
For today, what is important for me? I love working on the sewing patterns. I love making one of kind items where I just randomly throw things together. I love to sew for my family and friends and even for me. I love to sew for others too who I don't know via my etsy shop. I love working on projects for magazines and sharing ideas. I love what I do at my university job and working with students. There is joy in all of those things. I love to read. Hike. Try new recipes. Spend time with friends. Go to the pool in the summer. Watch movies. Blog hop.
Success for me is defined each day that I feel like I gave my best and I don't regret at the end of the day that I could have done more. Good enough is going to be good enough. My dreams have already gone way beyond what I ever imagined and each day that I try to push myself and keep reaching is a success. Every day. Success. Achieved. {but that should give some explanation why I decided to shut down custom orders for a bit on my etsy shop - taking a few irons out of the fire}
It's like worrying that the house isn't all clean for company and then you just let that go, relax, and just enjoy your company because life isn't about the stuff it's about the relationships. My "business plan" is that messy house so I'm just letting go and doing what I can and finding I can relax and enjoy all the company without going crazy about how dusty the blinds are. Make sense? You know this is temporary, right? Because being uber busy is hard for me to NOT do. Please feel free to frequently remind me of this post.
I have met so many wonderfully amazing women via this crafting online community. Talented, and kind, and supportive, and encouraging, insightful, and smart. You ARE all hugely successful! Speaking of success....
I want to introduce you to one of my very successful blog friends who is a super duper editor. Sarah is one of the testers for my sewing patterns and has a terrific eye for finding all of my errors!
I'm mom to three little bundles of energy, 2, 4 and 5. Long, long ago I taught math and worked in the engineering world, but now I am fortunate to stay at home with my little ones. I have loved fabric and sewing as long as I can remember and first learned how to quilt right along with my mother in high school. About four years ago I learned about the world of digital scrapbooking and quickly jumped into designing products for sale. I spend that precious and rare free time making digital scrapbook kits, sewing or baking.
Sarah also has a new fabric collection available on Spoonflower...Count on me. Check out her lovely creations!
Successful in so many ways. Thank you Sarah so sincerely for all of your help, you are amazing.
What successes did you have today? Leave a comment, share your blog link, share your successes.