Birthday blog posting - part 2! For anyone who has read my previous post about my momma, I really appreciate your time.
Before I dive into what I want to share next, I’ll interrupt myself first and say that despite doing my best to bring out all the celebratory energy around March, it’s actually been a month where I feel like I’m just surviving. Lately, my response to “how are you?” is “just swimming…just trying to keep my head above water…or this marathon of life,” all to say there’s just been a lot. I see so many stressors in my friends, coworkers, my husband and for me, continuing to do what it takes to maintain my balance and keep my peace. The biggest thing that has topped everything off is a recent discovery of a big mold issue in our home - finding the time in our busy lives to remediate (mold is gone as we speak, yay!), rebuild our bathroom, continue sleeping out of my living room, etc… I remind myself everyday how grateful I am to even have a home and family, understandably against this crazy world we live in.
Onto the topic I wanted to chat about - to learn and improve!
If there’s been one positive switch in my brain that’s been turned on at the start of the year, it is to continue learning. I have called myself aspiring-many things (an aspiring artist, for example), but I’ve forgotten that behind all of it is this desire to always be a learner. I remember in my 20s some of the women I’ve looked up to the most were ones who were always learning in their, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. I deeply admire them and hope to grow up to be like them!
I remember learning about the concept of “kaizen” in college, which is a concept and methodology to improve on a system, a craft, etc that was introduced in Japan for many [vehicle?] companies. Although I don’t use it the same way, the idea of continuous improvement has stuck with me since college (it was the theme of one of my personal statements, in fact!). This year, I’m really honing in on all the ways I can improve both aspects of my personal life and for this little business.
Here are a few things I’m learning, relearning, rethinking and improving upon:
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Wholesale! I just finished a 4-week intensive course on strategies and good practices to grow the wholesale side of my business. I actually took Paper Camp for a second time because I’ve found all the learnings to be so helpful both times. I’ll be spending a good amount in coming weeks building on that!
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Ballet! I have danced ballet, jazz, modern and hip hop since I was in high school (and at that time, I felt like I was “too old” to start dancing, hah!) at small and big studios and so many Zoom sessions during Covid. Since Covid and my two babies, I haven’t had any of the time to go back until last week. I am surprised I had the stamina go to through the 1.5+ hr class. It’s the best thing I’ve done for myself in a long while, and I cried at the end of class.
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Typography, back to basics for design, and some watercolors. These were all things I’ve dabbled in over the years before this business ever became a thing. I’m taking incremental bits of time to brush up on these. Somehow, it all bleeds into my artwork.
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Riso printing. I am as fascinated as any other on this printing method. Though obviously, from all the above, have been too busy to take a workshop class to learn, it’s on my list.
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Affinity - another design tool I want to learn!
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Parenting - this is a forever-life lesson, isn’t it? While we do our fair share of “time-outs” and ultimatums, we both do our best to try different approaches to parenting for our two very different boys. :)
What are some things you want to learn lately?