Twelve months ago, I wrote about how 'WORK' was the word I chose as my one little word for 2014. I chose it because at the end of 2013 I was no longer a teacher and finished with design school, and I needed to find work. I knew this was going to be the major focus of the year, and by the end of 2014 I wanted a job I enjoyed doing and to be on a career path that was IT.
Fast forward to today and I am happy to report I have achieved my goal. :) This past year, I got paid to design + create product + craft + blog and it's been so. much. fun. It's had its fair share of challenges, but when the career is right, the challenges only fuel your passion. I love what I get to call my work, and am I still awe-struck that I actually made it happen. For those of you who've been reading my blog and have followed all my steps in this career change journey of mine, then you have some idea of the struggle to get to this place. But I made it, and I hope to be here forever designing + creating product + crafting + blogging.
Here are some images of the happy work I got paid to do this year:
My 10 year old self would be so proud, and my 30 year old self knows it's just beginning. Three years ago I was neck-deep in teacher work that didn't fulfil me, and in less than two weeks I'll be neck-deep in CHA Tradeshow goodness! It's so fantastic, I might pee.
One little word 'work': MISSION COMPLETED, dear friend. ♥ xoxo, Amanda
UPDATE: So here I am, back writing at the bottom of this post a day after pushing publish because I need to recant a bit. Everything you've read above is true, but the smug way I wrote it was wrong. I read it back to myself in horror as I made it sound like I chose the word 'work' in January and then magically I found work I enjoyed by the end of the year. No, no, and NO. Keep reading...
My word WORK worked me, honies! (...and that's putting it lightly.) I worked my booty off in January updating my portfolio, reconstructing my resume, e-mailing bunches of places I wanted to work, etc. Looking for work and starting your career over are two things that are NOT FUN. In February, I found work with We R that was exactly what I'd hoped for: designing scrapbooking product and working from home doing it! Hooray! Story over? Nope. I worked so hard, drudging through new territory and working through the greatest bought of creative block I've ever encountered. The learning curve and the pressure I put on myself to learn it quickly burned me. Somehow, I worked through the creative block, and banged out two paper collections for We R. Hooray! Story over? Nope. After 4 months and 2 completed paper collections with We R, American Crafts bought the company, and my job as product designer was terminated. I was back to square one, looking for work again. That was June 18th.
My grandpa died June 20th. There was my olw again, and my family and I worked through his wake and funeral. I continued to look for a new job, sending out my resume, now with updated "oh by the way, I designed two paper collections" added to it. My dad was rushed to the ER on July 14th. My sister was rushed to the ER on August 2nd. My family worked through those, too. This was our summer. This was my year with work.
Not to mention having to work through a major knock-me-to-my-knees bought of anxiety early in the spring, something that I'll probably always have to work at overcoming, and of course, my move to Texas, to work on Tomas and I, and independence, and the nagging feeling that I'm responsible for the happiness of everyone around me. This year with work was no joke. The job I talked about earlier of getting paid to design + create product + craft + blog? THANK GOD FOR IT! I landed it in August, officially started September 1st, and as I said above, it's been really terrific.
I worked for that work, and worked through obstacles to do that work well, and it was not as easy a path or year as I originally made it out to seem. I suppose I wanted you all to keep that in mind when you reflect on your word from the past year, or your word for the upcoming year. Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. xoxo, Amanda
