Last Saturday I gave the keynote at the IDSwest conference about my career and what I’ve learned in the last 10 years of styling and creating content in a digital world – sounds fancy, I know (P.S. thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and support from Friday’s post). One statement that seemed to have resonated so much with the audience (and the HGTV speaking engagement audience a few weeks ago) was the notion to “JUST START” creating. So many people came up to me afterwards at both talks and told me how much they appreciated it – that they had been thinking about doing something, wanting to do something, but they were holding themselves back.
Now I’m not a professional motivational speaker; furthermore, I’m actually someone who has made 1 million mistakes in my business, but as far as putting myself out there? I did that and I continue to do that which I think is one of the reasons for the success of my company.
But those of you who are hesitant are certainly not alone. I find this especially among my generation. Millennials are much more entrepreneurial and confident than those of us who went to college in the 90’s for some reason. What I see most in people that aren’t fulfilled creatively or career-wise is the inability to pull the creative career trigger – to put themselves, their service or their product out into the world. This inability holds them back, keeps them unfulfilled and deprives them from much needed creative expression. And it’s such a cycle – the longer you wait, the less confidence you have, right? Because you see all these other people starting all over the place and you think, gah, I’ll never catch up!! It’s sucks, I get it. But why?
My theory is that this lack of “starting” is attributed to two stupid things: perfectionism and fear.
Perfectionism is a dangerous demon, and trying to capture it in any facet of your life (career, relationship, or even design of your new english cottage kitchen, for instance) is a fools errand that will cause you so much stress, make you less happy and no matter how hard you try, you will still fail to be perfect. So stop trying!!! Sure, I believe in being detail-oriented and having a high level of quality in both styling/photography and my design work. I very often email Brady at 11pm to say “Tomorrow’s post isn’t there yet, lets push it” (like tonight which is why I wrote this off-the-cuff post, actually) or I change a design presentation with Ginny at the last minute because the sofa feels too “Glenn Close” and not enough “Meryl Streep.” However, as everyone who works for me or knows me knows, I’m truly not a perfectionist and I think this is one of the keys to creative success – especially in the digital age. My brain and creativity is flexible and I believe producing something great is more important than perfecting something ’til death.
What I hear the most is that someone’s product or service isn’t quite ready to be put out there. Maybe it’s that their font isn’t flushed out on their site yet, or their portfolio isn’t robust enough, or perhaps their product needs a few tweaks. But this tweaking/obsessing/flushing out process can go on for years. YEARS of you not starting and therefore not feeling fulfilled.
Fear is even worse.
I get it. I’m held hostage way more by fear than perfectionism. I’ve told you over and over that there are some posts of which I’m terrified to push publish. Fear of criticism, backlash, or negativity is something I still battle a bit on personal posts and I have to really force myself to be brave and power through (luckily most of you are really nice).
But I see what fear does to people – it totally paralyzes them and stops them before they ever start. Just remind yourself what I tell myself all the time – the worst thing that can happen is you fail, and failure doesn’t actually kill anybody. No one will die if I blow this speaking engagement. No one will die if I reveal a project that I, too, fear is sub-par. No one will die if I start a design series for the blog that you guys all think is insane. I’ll simply adjust and move on. In the digital era people forget so much faster than they used to and I promise you, you have many chances at a first impression. Besides, if you do actually fail then just google “ISIS daily updates” or “cellar babies” then try to feel sorry for yourself. It feels like shit to fail, but no one will die.
So here’s my advice to “getting started”:
1. Focus on QUANTITY over quality for a while. This is KEY and opposite of what we have always been told. When I started the blog it looked like this.
It was barely above average at best and I knew it but I had put off starting the blog for over a year at that point and one day I just needed to push publish (I have hasty little sausage fingers that often just press send when my brain is busy trying to deal with fear – thank God my fingers are much smarter than my brain). The inspirational photos were pretty but not perfect, the copy was personable but not prolific, and the site itself was absolutely mediocre at best. I had built it by myself on blogspot with zero photoshopping skills and a serious frustration towards choosing fonts (which I still have – I’m strangely bad at 2 dimensional design).
But I started.
Sure, this was in a time when there weren’t that many blogs and the content was mostly inspirational photos scanned from magazines or DIY projects with bad cameras and even worse lighting. As I started to create content in my home I didn’t obsess on perfection either and instead created cute vignettes that had personality and partnered with up-and-coming photographers who needed to practice their craft, too, to shoot random stuff in my house. This is how I created a portfolio and a blog and while neither were perfect, I did it. I started.
2. Create a website with your company’s name that says “Coming soon!” – then get on social media instead while you “tweak” your site (you could tweak your site for a year, meanwhile “not starting”). It’s so easy. People accept a “coming soon” website for months, I promise.
3. Start posting your work and others’ work on Instagram. If you want to be a potter but are intimidated by creating so much social media content or instagrams every day then simply find photos of pottery that inspire you and post them, obviously crediting the artist. Say something like “So inspired by @BenMendansky’s work – I love how graphic his mugs are and it’s making me get back into the studio this morning. Just add coffee.” Then tag him (which will get his attention). You don’t have to create all your own original social media, you just need to CREATE SOMETHING and then remind people that you, too, are creating something. Pretty photos = likes and likes = more followers. I used to only put original photography on social media but since I’ve been promoting other people’s work I’ve seen a huge amount of success as they feel flattered and followers love the inspiration.
4. Use your Facebook friends as your focus group. These are people who probably care about you and want you to succeed so ask their opinion so they will help you promote and might give you the feedback/encouragement you need.
Over the weekend I was talking to Maxwell (founder of Apartment Therapy), Justina (Jungalow), and Jaymie Derringer (founder of DesignMilk) and all of us chatted about our lack of perfectionism and our instinct to just “create and present” rather than “create and obsess.” I was glad it wasn’t just me – they absolutely ditto’d my theory.
What happens when you finally Start? These three things:
1. You practice your craft. For me it was writing, styling, and posting to social media. I had a moderately distinct voice when I started but I’ve certainly honed in on it over the years by writing every. single. day. Like an athlete with a muscle, just exercising guarantees progress if not success. You have to practice your art whether its making pottery, interior design, writing, etc and by putting it out there you are forced to practice again and again and again and every day you’ll get better and better.
2. You receive feedback. The internet is one big free focus group – AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!! Companies used to (and some still do) pay so much money to show a product to a group of randomly selected people to get their arbitrary base thoughts. Now you can ask your friends/followers on social media and you will know how people feel about your product immediately. Yes, this is terrifying. One time somebody that told me that my designs looked like a child had smeared shit all over their walls. He apparently really, really didn’t like my work and my decorating style apparently angered him A LOT. But most of the time that feedback is absolutely helpful. A few years ago I was getting a lot of feedback that my work was starting to look all the same and as I looked at it, like an objective reader I realized they were right and I started to diversify. If you want faster results and more engagement then ask a question. You can say something like “Excited to finally start showing off my work, but I need feedback – should this mantel have more personality or is it already full enough?” Or if you are a maker you could say, “Thinking about opening an Etsy store (coming soon!) and wondering what price point you would spend on one of my hand-thrown pots?” If you don’t have a social following then ask your Facebook friends. If you aren’t on FB, then get on Facebook (and instagram).
You don’t need to make a huge announcement that is like “HEY WORLD, I’M NOW GOING TO CALL MYSELF AN ARTIST AND HERE ARE 147 PAINTINGS FOR YOU TO PURCHASE.” No. Baby steps are good! Create one product or publish one project, and ask for feedback – honestly, this will probably make you feel really good. As you get feedback you can tweak your product or service and make it better. Maybe everyone overwhelmingly says that things feel too busy, or that you need more color – then you know what the market is feeling and if you want to listen (p.s. you should) then you will probably create a product that will be more successful.
3. The third thing that could happen if you put your work out there is that you just. might. succeed. No one can buy a product they don’t know exists and no one will hire you for a skill that they don’t know you have. What if you start creating, putting it out there and it turns into your dream job?!
You simply won’t know until you start.
That’s my Monday morning wanna-be-Ted-talk for you. Maybe an Em-talk? Charlie just slapped me (deservedly) for writing that – he’s very sensitive to self-righteous know-it-all advice givers. But here’s the part where I encourage you to START and I selfishly want to be part of the process. So if this motivates you at all, please post on social and tag me in your project/art/creation by using this hashtag #EHDjuststart.
Our web-based world is so ready for more makers, creators and artist and with the internet being such an easy and accessible platform for all services and products, you, my friends are in the perfect time/era to put away that “How to obsess over everything and make sure it’s perfect” self-help book and instead, JUST START.
*Sorry about the two advice-based posts back to back … our design post wasn’t quite ready today. Come back tomorrow!!
Great post! I love your down to earth approach to everything!!! You go girl!
I love this! I saw Martyn Lawrence Bullard and India Hicks talk at Decorex last week and they both echoed that “just start” message. It’s an industry where there aren’t necessarily set steps to a successful career, but you’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t do something to get going in the beginning. Not that I’m speaking from experience – I’m very much still at the starting point – but it’s very nice to hear the same message of encouragement from people who’ve made it and who I admire so much. Incidentally, your name was mentioned in their discussion more than once (all very good things).
Wow. that is very flattering. thank you for letting me know. xx
This post and Friday’s post? I love you Emily. No, but really, these two posts have been amazing to read and mull over and I just can’t thank you enough for sharing these things! How did you know everything I needed to hear?
I think part of the perfectionism that holds back creatives can come from feeling that others who have been successful must have figured out some secret *something* that you haven’t learned yet. I know that the remind that no one has it all figured out is such an important one. And it seems to me that your post on creativity, to ‘just start’, that holds so much wisdom for working on improving one’s marriage too. 😉 Many thanks for your words!
Thank you 🙂 It wasn’t planned to do both posts back to back so I was sensitive about it (which is why i’m only reading the comments now). So thank you. xx
Emily, this resonates with me so much right now. Thank you for the much-needed pep talk! Perfect Monday motivation!
Thank you, Emily! This is just what I needed to read this morning. I don’t think I’ve ever commented here before but I want to tell you that this post (and your last post – congratulations!) are what makes this space so very special.
Just this weekend, my husband and I sat down and had a long conversation about what we want our lives to look like. Neither of us is really doing what we really want in life but we’re so caught up in surviving each day (with little kids + jobs) that it felt impossible to even imagine a better, more fulfilling version of our lives.
Oops. I pushed post too soon!
Anyway, we decided to really dream our dreams (and support each other in dreaming our dreams) and then figure out a way to make them into reality. And your post today is so so very helpful both for the motivation and for the practical advice. Thank you.
DO IT. That’s amazing. I really respect marriages that can talk so openly and and support each other so well. Kudos. xx
Great post!
This is probably not as “nice” to talk about but I find the main thing stopping me from my semi-creative dream (opening a homewares store) is money. I have a fairly well paid office job and it’s hard to think about leaving this security behind, especially when it affords me the luxury of buying nice things for my house and occasional travel.
Was money ever a fear for you Emily?
Money is so important to talk about. I also would be completely afraid to quit a good paying job to embark on a very expensive, and risky endeavor. But maybe there are ways that you could start small, like opening a really well curated online shop (even just starting with Etsy) and using social media like Instagram, FB, and Pinterest to promote it. It would be an insane amount of work when you already have a full time job, but maybe it would give you the confidence you need to make the leap to brick and mortar.
another thing to do is get a booth at a local, antiques, flea market kind of place where you rent space. many let you sell anything, and i know i like going to those where the people put out new things as well as the old. so give it a try, start small and have fun. you already have a good paying job and that is so wonderful…you won’t have anything to loose really. to buy items just get a fed. id number and reg. the name of your business and get buying!
that is just what I was going to say. Start a small online shop. market the hell out of. grow customers and confidance. Then get a brick and mortar. xx
Thank you so much for this post, Emily! I am an avid reader of your blog! I’m a couple weeks away from launching my new blog focusing on styling and the makeover of my house and closing another established creative business I have because it doesn’t fulfill me. Starting over is terrifying and I find myself obsessing over the posts I’ve written and I keep editing them! I sometimes do feel the need to wait until things are perfect, but you’re totally right – we have to just do it. We’re are all at different stages in or lives/business and taking the first step and putting yourself out there is super tough. But we should all take pride in the fact that at least we’re pursuing our passions/dreams, whatever – and that in itself is inspiring and half the battle. Thanks for the post!
Becky,
You sound exactly like me. I am doing the exact same thing. Looks like were creating the same type of blog. We should chat.
Thanks Emily for this post. I’m so terrified of rejection, someone not liking what I say. As a people pleaser, throwing myself out there is so scary. You have given us some great suggestions and I will be one to follow them.
I love this post! So helpful as I consider if I wanna proceed… Thanks Em.
Thank you, thank you! Your post really resonated with me as I’m someone that’s looking to break free from Corporate America and start a career in a more creative field. Reading a post like this, from someone whose work and message I admire, helps give me that boost of confidence to work towards conquering my fear of starting something new. Thank you for inspiring your readers daily with your designs and for the kind motivation you give with posts like this.
Thank you, your welcome and do it!!
Your posts are always exactly what I need to read. I “launched” my blog last week after looking at it for what felt like forever. I feel very encouraged and inspired after reading this to keep posting and trying every day.
Thanks!
YAY. next time leave the URL in your comment so other people can see it (and click). Good luck and nice job. xx
I love this post, Emily! I’m 27 and I’m becoming frustrated with where I’m at career-wise. At 24 I was accepted to an extremely rigorous Ph.D. program and ultimately decided not to pursue it because I knew it wasn’t the right path for me. I’m now gainfully employed but not fulfilled in any way and my position lacks the room for growth. I want to start over in a creative field, which is scary since my background is all science. But this is encouraging – I should just start. Thank you!
Yes, do it. You don’t have to do it all at once but start putting the pieces in place. xx
Great post, Emily. I am sending to several friends. Can’t wait to see your kitchen!
Great post! Great advice!
this post is exactly what i needed to hear today (or really for the past 5 years of my life!?) i keep running into bits of inspiration like this and i feel like the universe is telling me to surrender my fear and just share my gifts. so thank you so much for encouraging that in me today. 🙂 xoxo
b
Emily, I have to say that one of the reasons I still read your blog daily while I’ve abandoned almost every other blog I used to read is because you don’t try to be perfect every day. You show us things and then you often tell us what you did wrong and how you changed it. You make mistakes and you fix them. Of course, you also have the best style. I think the just start advice is the best advice! I can’t wait to see the new house.
Thank you 🙂
Excellent post and advice! I’m bookmarking it as this will continue to give me confidence, especially now that I’ve entered the blogging world! Thank you!!
Hi Emily,
I attended your talk at IDS West on Saturday. You were the reason I went to the show. It was so worth it. I’ve been reading your blog for years sow – so I kinda feel like I know you. And you are exactly as you are on the blog. Charming, down to earth and very inspiring.
So many points that you spoke about are still resonating. Thanks so much for sharing your insights. P.S Your hair gave me major hair envy. Also, those Rachel Comey mules!
Thank you Genevieve. I seriously appreciate that comment. You never know how you ‘do’ so thank you very very much. xx
I read your blog everyday, and I have to say this post was pure gold! You gave really great advice and I am taking it to heart! You are so right about just making a start and to practice, practice which is what I am going to do – as I love styling (more events and DIY than interiors) and am keen to continue to build a “portfolio”. Thank you so much for being one of the most open and generous bloggers out there!
This would have been so encouraging to hear when I started my Etsy shop (as a side gig, not as primary income) four years ago. I came up with a name, hem-hawed around for three months, and then posted 3 items I made using a tutorial I found on Pinterest. I was literally in tears that “no one will ever like or buy anything I make and I suck at being creative” when I logged in and realized I had made my very first sale. From there it grew…I made my own patterns instead of using someone else’s tutorial…and four years later I’m in a rut as my bestsellers use chevron and are looking very 2012. Time for a refresh! Thanks for the motivation this morning!
YAY. Keep going. xx
Just a straight up THANK YOU!!
Hi Emily, not sure I’ve ever commented before, but I so enjoy your posts and today’s and Friday’s were so fab I felt moved to! Your warmth and down to earth persona come across so clearly both in what you write and do. You create homes, not houses and I think that translates itself very clearly to your readers. Thank you for sharing your work, your passions and your lovely family with us.
Thank you. That is such a lovely compliment. Thank you very very much for commenting 🙂
Hey, pretty lady! Thanks for continuing to push yourself and put yourself out there! You have a beautiful funky spirit and insanely cool style; I love seeing your posts in my inbox every day. (And also everyone else’s posts too of course you beautiful EHD crew you)
Your design post didn’t go out today because I needed to hear #EHDjust start today!
THANK YOU!
YAY 🙂 I’m headed to check the hashtag now. xx
Thanks for this post, Emily! I’ve been in interior design school on and off for a few years now and you hit the nail on the head on why I haven’t pulled the trigger on my career: perfectionism and fear. Thanks for giving me the motivation and courage to just start! I have all of these little design projects I’ve been a part of, but never felt like it was high caliber enough to show the world. I’m writing out a plan this week to get.it.out.there. Thanks for your inspiration, Emily! I love your website and your style!
YES. I’m so glad. thank you.
i love this post! {Heck all of them really but especially this one. 😉 } it wasnt until i took a class by brene brown early this year called the courage works semester that i found the courage to dare greatly, believe in myself, and, as you said, just start! i love this and will definitely bookmark it for inspiration any time i forget that everyone is a beginner at some point. thank you for sharing this.
Talk about serendipitous timing, I actually contacted a business that I loved so I can help with their marketing this weekend. I’d been telling myself for ages, “Your websites not quite ready yet, you need to do this first…blah, blah, blah.” Then I saw a Facebook post, emailed the owner and bam… I have a client. You totally do NOT have to have everything together to get started, glad I’m not the only crazy one.
VERY GOOD.
I got this from parenting guru Carrie Contey: Kids don’t want their parents to be perfect; they want them to be AUTHENTIC.
I happen to think that this is true across the board for human beings. Or at least, if someone is choosing perfect over authentic, there isn’t a lot of love present.
Indeed. I couldn’t agree more. I think I know you 🙂
Great post today, Emily! I agree with all your points. I’m still very new at it all (our blog celebrated its first year last month) but so glad I just forged ahead.
One thing I’d like to emphasize about failure: there’s really no need to fear it. It’s one of the ways (and an important one) that we learn. It’s not a judgment on your personal worth. Unless you were born under very lucky stars, everyone fails at something sometime. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, extract the lesson(s), and carry on. Or stop and start in a different direction. Accept the probability that not everything will work out perfectly and move forward.
Fearing failure is akin to fearing life.
indeed. good luck. xx
You are such a great inspiration for me!!! I discovered your blog 3 or 4 yeas ago and I`ve learn so much from your work.
And as a inspirational coincidence, today (about 30 minutes before reading this post) I launch my online shop, and made my own week routine to organize my time between production and blog`s writting.
Keep been like this, you reach out more people that you could imagine!
Thanks
Emily this post is so helpful, thank you so much. I’ve only started a blog the past couple of months, I finally took the plunge when I realised I need a creative outlet just like the people with the blog’s that I love to read every day! Alice xxx
http://www.aliceadventures.co.uk
Thank you!!! As I am in the midst of a new and large (for me) project I am filled with both excitement and yes, fear. “Will I/it be good enough?” “Will anyone care?” “Will it be worth the time/effort?” Ugh. BUT, I am doing it. It’s going to happen, so I am in full on prep mode (with a few minute inspo break here) and at the end of the day/week I know I will learn something about myself, my style, and hopefully how to connect with a client/customer. As always, I find your style and voice encouraging and very, very real. Many thanks.
totally agree with all of this. Just Start!
I think it’s also important to state, that you can be fulfilled by not creating your career out of what you are creatively good at. I think you can have creative fulfillment in your life, even if it’s not your career. Depending on your creativity for your income is really stressful and can become really frustrating. OR, if you are successful as a creative you’re often accused of “selling out”. It can be a double-edge sword. Certainly give it a go, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t find financial viability within a creative career. You are not a failure! Keep making, keep creating, and it’s okay if you need a job beyond that to pay the bills. We ALL have to keep the lights on somehow 🙂
kb
I love this point. It’s true. If its not for you then don’t be embarassed or ashamed. xx
Great post! It reminds me of a poem I found very inspirational and framed.
“There is freedom waiting for you, On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask ‘What if I fall?’ Oh but my darling, ‘What if you fly?’”
― Erin Hanson
Wow. I love that. and i’m not just saying that. that last sentence is wonderful
Great advice for those who need to hear ‘just close your eyes and jump’.
Good post. For those afraid to give up your income, take some time to look at the expense side of your life. Search “extreme early retirement” to find ways to drastically cut your expenses; then you can stash cash away for your dreams or take a significantly lower paying gig without experiencing financial pressures.
THANK YOU. I’m very much a just start and hone your craft as you go kinda gal and I loved all this advice. I’m in my 3rd year of creating and the more I go, the better I get. I’ll be using that hashtag because whether I’m starting now or started 3 years ago, we’re all reinventing and restarting new ideas all the time! xo
YAY great. xx
This comes at a perfect timing. I recently started blogging and had been putting it off for years.
Just start is the best piece of advice anybody that is having second thoughts should do. We don’t have to have anything else figured out. Taking the first step is enough.
Wow! This is exactly what I needed right now. Thank you.
I have a blog and really want to start a art/design business some day (I’m a little early at 15, but it IS my passion) A lot of people need to hear this. Being paralyzed by fear is not uncommon. I’m so glad you started like that considering where you are now.
LOVE this post.
I’ve been pushing back opening my etsy store (of illustrated personalized portrait) for almost a year, because I didn’t feel ready, didn’t had enough example yet, etc.
But you’re JUST SO RIGHT. I think it is just what I needed. And I’ll do that, I’ll start it.
For real, Thanks Emily !
YAY. do it. xx
So good! As someone who just started a creative side-business this summer, this post was so encouraging. Just do it, people! You’ll never get the chance to improve if you don’t start!!
This is such an on time post for me! I definitely struggle with trying to get each post just right and over think everything! But you are so right just starting and getting my ideas out into the world help so much and really builds momentum! Great Post!
Ha–
“no one will die…”
Excellent Blog! You have given excellent advice to all of us. Way to go with the courage, the fortitude and the ambition. Loved every word.
Thanks, mom 🙂
This was SO ENCOURAGING. I want to thank you and your team for being a constant source of inspiration, knowledge and beautiful things 😀
Thank you and you are welcome.xx
Dear Emily,
Thank you for yet another post brimming with generous wisdom and encouragement (I was reflecting on your reflection on creating a lifelong love all weekend)! Serendipitously, I am a potter (haha, I love that you used that as an example! Each of your posts make me feel like you are talking right to me :), and yesterday – after literally a year of self-doubt and perfectionism – I finally experimented with taking photos of my pottery to set up an Etsy shop. Can’t wait to share with you and the world the results soon 🙂
Melody
You’re so inspirational!
http://www.petiteandhungry.com
So very true, thank you. My husband and I have been talking intensely about ‘what’s the worst that can happen? we don’t know what we are doing but let’s just start! isn’t this better than sitting at our dead end jobs never having tried?!’ Perfect timing, thanks for the reinforcement. We are planning social media, but the bigger scary part is the brick and mortar – but HEY, lots of people STARTED and look at them…
Hey Emily, This is the first time I am ever commenting on your blog in-spite of following you for quite sometime. You are so inspiring.And I am commenting today because the timing of your post couldn’t be more perfect!I have been planning to start my own blog/website for months now but I always was taken aback because of fear of judgement and perfection.I am a full-time Concept Artist ( I paint and create character designs and backgrounds and stylize animation shows for Disney,CN etc. ) but I want to start my own home styling and DIY blog and service (push my creative side a bit and see if I can do it or not).My fiance and I got a new house and he has been pushing me to put all my skills and creativity to make it a home (its coming out beautifully) and put it out on blog. And I just couldn’t start all because I just think a lot.Today morning I had to pin myself down to create my website. And as a ritual I visit your blogs to see your portfolio to inspire me everyday and there you have it,your post today ” Just Start”. I can’t… Read more »
Wow. yes. please do it. I’m so glad that i helped but I also know that you are proabably already doing it. DO IT MORE. YAY. I don’t know you but I’m so proud of you.xx
Okay, so for the last 7+ months I have been saying I would document my house renovation and show my reasoning for the choices I have made in all my decisions through out, and I hadn’t done it, all the best intentions but just to many excuses, try a 3 year old and a ten month old oh and a major renovation to name a few, but I finally pulled the pin after reading this post and created a Instagram account did my very first post, edited the post 4 times and used the hashtag #EHDjuststart I’m not letting perfectionism and fear rule anymore. Thanks Emily your one persuasive lady!
I’m going to check it YAY!!!!! I know that your life is insane right now, so congratulations for trying at all and yet getting something done. xx
The one proviso I’ll add is don’t confuse a hobby and a job. You may love cooking but opening a restaurant can suck that passion and creativity dry. Work is ultimately, always, work and people don’t always realize that.
TRUE THAT. I love my career, but its still a job. xx