Starting Over

Let's face it: I'm not a craft blogger.

I'm not good at design, I have no patience for photography, and my ability to consistently churn out projects is a travesty.

This blog is not beautiful. I won't have thousands of followers once I start it. But I'm tired of not doing anything.

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Ok, let me start from the beginning.

Once upon a time, a recent(ish) college grad decided to become a craft blogger. See, she had many many unfinished craft projects and not too much to do in her spare time. She decided to produce two posts per week - one finished project and one lifestyle post. She had a schedule set and a bunch of ideas, so off she went.

And she learned a lot about herself, really! Mainly, the first few sentences of this post.

I'm not a craft blogger.

I'm never going to be a craft blogger.

But I'm sick of not really having a hobby. I did some swing dancing! It was phenomenal, I love it, and I want to keep doing it, but it's not going to be my hobby. In college, theater was my hobby. I spent about 20 hours per week either on stage, backstage, in the shop, or in production meetings. It was wonderful - I was painfully busy, but I was productive.

Then I graduated and got a job, as you do. And I suddenly had hobby paralysis. I tried to start a blog, I tried to start a YouTube series, I took up swing dancing (that lasted for a full year!), I kept sewing, I made friends, but none of them felt like my True Hobby.

A quick side story:

In college, my roommate had this theory (to which I wholeheartedly subscribe) that people make different decisions following the same decision-making processes. The way we presented it to people was to first ask them to describe how they shop.

I, for example, like to shop in groups, and I tend to stalker-shop. I follow people to all the different racks, rarely breaking off on my own. I generally go in with the intention of finding something trendy and cute, but leave with simple jeans and a tshirt.

We then inform them that that's how you find boys.

I, for example, like to go to parties in groups, and I tend to stick with my friends throughout the night. I follow people through all the different conversation clumps, rarely breaking off on my own. I generally go in with the intention of finding new friends and having a rollicking good time, but leave around 1:30am because I'm tired.

The reason I bring up the Shopping Theory is the same reason I brought up college theater: the reason I couldn't find my True Hobby. I don't have a True Hobby. My True Hobby is whatever I want to do right then. I like to be busy with many different tasks all at once: some just starting, some in progress, and some close to done.

What I feel like doing right now is trying my hand at blogging. I can't promise that I'll post consistently, but I can promise a lot of crazy, scatterbrained posts like this until I pin down exactly what I want this blog to be.

And I have a reason why I'm going to release this before it is anything that a real project is.

And that's because of the Shopping Theory.

You see, I've taken this business development quiz that pinpoints your career strengths. Without going into too much detail, one of my strengths is the Activator, who is a person who doesn't want to wait until everything is perfect to get going. I want to start NOW. You don't wait to start driving until all the lights are green, right?

So I'm following the Shopping Theory and acknowledging that if I wait until everything is perfect, it will never get done. Here it is, in all its imperfections. I'll improve it as I go. I'll tell you about all the things that I'm working on NOW because I can't wait for conditions to be perfect. I'm going to take my spare time one stoplight at a time.

Go Before Green.

(that's the new title, if y'all didn't notice)

(for anyone who's curious, it was called Tying Up Some Loose Ends before, which is WAY too long and complicated and has multiple e's in a row, so this is an improvement)

(ps feel free to check out my old posts from when I thought I was gonna be a craft blogger - the photography is awful and the instructions are unclear)

(sorry, this post is really long. I'm rather talkative, so I don't know what I promise in terms of post length, but I acknowledge the absurd length of this one)

(kudos if you've made it this far, but I also want to say that this blog won't always be this ugly. I promise)