The past year has definitely taken me places I didn’t foresee. It was around this time last year that I decided I needed to step back from my shoppe and reevaluate why I was doing it. With a lot of prayer and introspection, I find myself not only happy with that decision, but I’m stepping back even more! I’m not closing up shoppe yet, it just isn’t my main focus any more.
So, with the extra time on my hands, I’ve been diving in and taking care of my home, myself, and letting go of pipe dreams.
Pipe Dream: noun; an unattainable or fanciful hope or scheme
Case in point…
Isn’t that a lovely scene?
This is the top of my dresser o’ yarn. I had been working on this blanket for a few weeks. I needed to use up some yarn from other projects, and thought I had found the perfect scheme.
The other day, I laid down all the squares I had finished to come up with a plan, and to my horror it was the ugliest blanket I had ever scene! What to do? I had already spent countless hours working on this, looking for inspiration online, plotting, planning, crocheting. I decided to cut my losses and hope that there may be someone else out there that could use a partially finished afghan. Anyway, off to the thrift store it went, along with a few bags of trim, knick knacks, and old books.
Redemption!
The next day, I decided that the granny stripe afghan I had high hopes for was a bust also, so I took it apart, gave away the yarn I didn’t like, and started on something new. So far, I’m in love!
I’ll spare telling you how many schemes and projects I have let go of over the past few months. All I know is, I feel tons better. There are so many things I actually need to be doing, and my projects were holding me back!
From things like this…
Dog walkies.
This has been calling to me for a long time! Fresh air and exercise. Of course I pick a time of year when the weather is getting rough, but oh well.
A photo of my son in Myanmar last month. I stole it from his IG. I just love it!
The most important thing I need to focus on right now are my relationships! I am lucky to say that I have a lot of wonderful people in my life, and I need to put them at the top of my priority list, not just make room for them in my schedule!
I well and truly wish I could do it all, but I’m just not built that way. I will continue to scale down until I can do all that I need to be doing!
Art journaling is still on the top of my “must do” list, but I’m spending more time ‘journaling’ than ‘arting’ as you can see. Lately, I have been finding that I really need to organize my thoughts through journaling. This is also a great way to use up old stickers. The washi tape helps keep my writing straight, such a struggle.
So, I hope you’ll join me on my journey of scaling down, letting go, and simplifying my life. I can’t wait to share on this blog many of the things I did on my old one like gardening, cooking, makings, and what ever else I’m up to at the time. I will still share my art journals of course, I just think it’s time to share more of my life with you. Hope that sounds good!
Have a beautiful day!
Thanks for stopping in,
~Patty
Patty Radish 
Gosh, this makes so much sense to me! I feel I have projects hanging over my head, that I will never ever finish, maybe it’s time to let them go, thAnk you for sharing your words and for leaving such lovely ones on my blog xx
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Thank you so much Sophie!!! You are such an inspiration!
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hi patty, i enjoyed reading your post. my navigation of where i’m going-what i want has been similar this year. i use to be obsessed with making all kinds of journals-i loved it. then, over the summer, i was sorting/organizing things, and discovered i needed 5 huge containers to hold all of my finished journals! (truthfully-more like 6 or 7) yikes! each one is special to me, each one was fun to create, but seeing how many i had all together made me pause and think. did i really want to keep going in that direction?
that’s when i dove head first into coloring books. lol. i can be creative without having to haul a bunch of stuff out (or have to put a bunch of stuff away!) i have a few other projects i’m involved with, but most of the time, i am happy to grab some pencils or markers and color to my hearts content.
i think a lot of us have our GPS for our creative selves “re-calculating!” and i think that’s a good thing. as always, thank you for sharing your journey. hugs, jenny
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Thank you so much Jenny! It really has been a sense of relief over the last few days. All the making and sharing took over my day. I’m kind of turning into a bum, but my house is clean
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ahh yes, i know that sense of relief. my mantra for the year has been “Less = More” i think i will carry that with me in 2017. i highly doubt your a bum! lol-but a clean house always makes me feel good. this weekend, the floors are getting mopped by golly!!
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ps, i tried to “like” the post, as i’ve done many other times and it didn’t work…. might be something i am doing wrong, but wanted to fyi 🙂
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Looks like you just “liked” it from this side! 😀
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it’s working for me now 😉
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i was having a problem getting the “like” button to work-but it worked this time! yay! 🙂
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Nice blog post, Patty. I know what you mean about doing the projects that make you happy, and focusing on other things too. Looking forward to your other pursuits and posts, always enjoyable reading and inspiration. Above all, have FUN 🙂
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Thank you Nanci, it’s always so nice to hear from you! I thought backing off from blogging might give me more time to spend on my shoppe, but I miss my blog!:)
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Nice! And I totally get it! I’ve been starting new projects and letting go of old ones and deciding to do the things that make me happy, too – and not let the projects rule me! Maybe its the time of year – Fall often feels more like renewal time to me than Spring – maybe it’s that old school calendar thing….enjoy!
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Thanks Kris! It seems the more I let projects go, the more energy I have!
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