Sunday Shares #19
Tree from Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, Missouri.
I’m ready for the year to be over!
I had some very ambitious goals for 2023, but things did not go as planned.
The first 20 days of 2023 were going great until I got in a really bad car accident driving home from visiting family and friends in other states.
Months later, for many full-time freelancers like myself, the work that was supposed to start a few months later was either cancelled or became a lot less than promised.
As I start to look back, I did unexpectedly grow, learned new things and accomplished several of the goals I set. Despite that, I still have moments where I feel like I didn’t do enough simply because I didn’t accomplish all the goals I set for myself.
I’m not sure if that is unnecessary guilt that comes with living in a society where having a strong work ethic is favored over having a healthy work/life balance, or I was much too ambitious with my goal setting.
Despite the reason, the experiences of 2023 has made me realize that I need to leave space for the unexpected so I don’t lose momentum in what I want to do.
Here’s some things that caught my eye last week:
French Market Bag
I’m visiting my family for the holiday, and decided to start two new crochet projects so I have something to do during the moments of down time. This is the pattern I am using to make an all-purpose bag.
Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies
Got into the holiday spirit and made a batch of these! They have been a favorite of mine for years.
Layoffs.fyi
It feels like every time I have checked LinkedIn this business quarter, there has been someone posting about layoffs — especially at companies that had record profits. Debbie Levitt on LinkedIn wrote a really good post about how companies should be treating the employees that still work at this companies post layoffs.
I have many thoughts and theories about this, but I find it really sobering, especially when applying for jobs in the past few months. Several companies I applied to for jobs have shown up on the site! I wish this list showed more than just tech companies (if anyone reading knows of other sites, send me a message).
Questions for fellow artists and cultural workers
I’ll be thinking about this as I write down goals and dreams for 2024. Yes, I work as a designer, but for me, it’s only been one facet of who I am as an artist and creator.
Jackie Brown
Jackie Brown has been an artist who I have been a fan of for years (I think she was still a student when started following her?!). It’s been beautiful to watch her art grow and evolve over the years.
