The Love Boat Theory
Do you remember the TV show from the seventies called The Love Boat? No, me either…
Well, actually I do, and looking back it was the cheesiest and most trope-obvious shows ever created, but as a little kid let loose on the wild frontier that was TV of the 1970’s, I LOVED it.
Something that I noticed even as a kid, was that every episode followed a certain rythym. A bunch of romance starved or unlikely couples would be introduced and begin their onboard holiday intrigue, it played nice for a bit, then dadadadaaaaa, disaster would strike, or at least inconvenience, or heartbreak, or misunderstandings, you get the picture. The messy middle.
Then it would resolve and we would all breathe a sigh of relief… well as an emerging surface pattern artist, I feel like I am in the messy middle of a Loveboat episode. And it’s been going on for years now. Honestly, if anyone had showed me the bumpy, awkward, time-hungry roadmap before I started this journey (following my nose all the way), I probably would have said, “Are you serious? That looks too long and too hard!”
But the great thing about following your nose, is that really, you follow your instincts, and mine led me to some amazing teachers, and a lot of very wise advice and a fair bit of experimentation, with the odd risk chucked in for learning (like ordering my own fabric from an overseas manufacturer eek!) .
Luckily, when you feel the excitement that you get from creating patterns and from using colour and texture to make a design pop, you don’t notice the ‘hard’ part so much. Sure some patterns take forever to ‘crack the code’ and get them to work, but it’s all worth it.
The tricky part is embracing the weakest parts of your skillset (hello contracts, hello self-promotion) and giving those things the time they deserve and require. And again, the teachers come. If you build it they will come…
Right when I was feeling complete overwhelm, and that I would never be able to focus enough time on my business, an email popped into my inbox asking me, “Do you struggle to break down your goals and prioritise them for your creative business? My one-on-one goal setting sessions are here to help!” Well, that was spooky and brilliant and I signed up immediately. Best investment yet. Having a mentor like Tammy, who has been through so many of the same struggles when she was first starting out, has been a game changer, and circumvented so much anxiety and yeah, OVERWHELM BE GONE!
If you would like to find out more, here is a link to Tammy’s mentoring program. You’re welcome!
And now I suspect that when you design your own life, which revolves around your own art, maybe the messy middle is OK, and maybe it’s the messy edges and the messy top as well!
Stay calm fine friends, it will all work out for us…