Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me

I've been feeling a little needy lately. The last few days have been rough, sales dried up, blog views were way down and I found none of my pieces had been chosen for any treasuries. I was starting to go to that bad place where I thought nobody liked me anymore and I was a few ill chosen words away from starting a "I need sale" pity party thread. As I was hitting the bottom of this ego bruising time, I learned the lesson in it that I shall now share with you.

As I've previously mentioned, I was an actor for a time, a performer really. I started as a dancer, dabbled with singing and majored in theater in school. If you are even remotely familiar with the performance arts, you're aware that rejection is part of the deal. If you are wise and well adjusted you will quickly learn that not getting the part has very little to do with you as a person, it may even have little to do with your level of talent. Obviously I'm biased, but I think I'm a pretty good actor, however I am not what you would call leading lady material in appearance. Once I embraced that fact, it was easier to accept the rejection of those parts. I was simply not the right type or look for them.

So you're wondering what this has to do with sales, well what I failed to do is divorce my self worth from my tatting. I should have known better, but I allowed my validation to come from sales and blog hits, so when they dried up, I assumed that I had fallen out of favor, the streak was over and no one liked me anymore. The lesson I would like to share with you is this, as much of your own blood, sweat and tears is poured into your jewelry, art or creations, they are not you. As much as you wish that talent and skill was the only factor in sales, they are not. Taste is often the gorilla in the room. When someone isn't buying your jewelry it is most likely not because that don't like you, it may not even be because you're untalented. It is more likely that your pieces are simply not their style. So, to get all psycho-babbly, don't let your personal validation come from sales and external forces. Sure they are great, but they don't reflect on you as a person.

Well, my story has a happy ending, I found a few new treasuries featuring my pieces and this morning I woke to a sale. I guess I just needed a nice humbling blow to the old ego to get me back to a good place. I hope my lesson was well learned and I'm moving forward.