Content With Being Discontent

Aaaah! It's craft sale season, and I am getting so frustrated! I love craft sales, but just can't enjoy them like I used to. I remember craft tables filled with handknits by Granny, and jewellery made by her granddaughters...people with more hobbies then they had relatives to share them with! Craft sales were a means for them to deminish their stock, and support their habits for the long winter ahead!

With handcrafted wares being in such high demand these days, it is getting increasingly difficult to book a table in a craft sale; and the sales I have been to are all repeats of the last, filled with the same vendors, again and again. Not to mention, charging REDICULOUS amounts of money for what cost them peanuts to make, and not a lot of time to construct! That being said, I can totally understand why more and more people are turning their craft into thriving businesses. =]

And this is where I get frustrated! If "I can make that" (like I so often think I can), then why don't I??! As I stroll the isles, my heart aches for a niche in the "craft/art" industry (with a brand name and logo safely tucked away in my memory), only to come home completely uninspired, unmotivated, and scared.

Everywhere I turn, "original", "handcrafted", "locally made" pieces are being marketed, sold, and purchased; and at-home, self-taught, confident, striving women are sitting at their desks doing what they love, supporting their hobbies, and enjoying some good gravy over-flow....

I need to do this, I want to do this...but how does one even begin? Whenever the issue comes up with my patiently loving hubby (with oodles of marketing experience--and that exact "know-how" I question), or anyone for that matter, it doesn't take me long to answer with a very logical excuse...and I'm only frustrating myself doing so.

I find myself so overwhelmed with the amount of talent out there. The competition is freightening. It's the real world, and there is no room for coasting. I have only known "coasting", but it is at this point that I am finally becoming discontent with it. Thank you, Jesus! I have dreams (which may not necessarily include craft sales), and God wants me to live them. He gave them to me, and is bringing me that much closer to realizing them.

I certainly don't see myself marketing my skills anytime soon, but I think I am able to find contentment in this phase of growing discontent. =] Wha'...explain that one?! As I grow discontent with coasting, observing, and not-doing, God is preparing me with the heart, drive, and ambition that is needed to survive in this creative world. This world which he has filled with individual, one-of-a-kind talents, and I can be happy with that. He created us all, and if "they" can do it, then why can't I?

So in the meantime, I think I'd like to beging with the incredible canvas I brought home today!