Hello old friends! I don't know how many people will actually see this since the blog aggregators of yester-year are no longer and I haven't used this blog in ages. But, I thought it was about time for a life update, because it has upended y'all!
I quit my library job of 17 years to take a break and start my own business. And...
via GIPHY
I just remembered this post from 10 years ago when I got my full-time Librarian position and chose it for stability and happiness over moving forward with craftyminx and I re-read the whole thing to remind me why I made the decision I made then.
What changed in the last 10 years? I became a manager and I got severe burnout. There were other factors of course, but this was the biggest reason why I quit. Am I happy with the decision I made 10 years ago? Absolutely! The last 10 years were mostly great! I was a teen services librarian in an awesome community and then became a manager and grew a whole team of awesome librarians, and then the fatigue set in. And I wasn't quite sure why I was physically and mentally exhausted all the time, but it was okay, I was great at my job and enjoyed it. And then the pandemic started... and then it didn't end. And I was still physically and mentally exhausted, but it wasn't okay. I was dreading work every day. I never felt like I had a break, even with boundaries and trying my best to have a work-life balance, I would come back from vacation still exhausted and dreading all of the work I was going to have to do to catch up for the break that I had. In June this year, I got covid for the first time and knew I was going to have so much work to catch up on when I got back and I wasn't going to be able to ease in like I needed to because of understaffing and summer reading, and, and, and... And then I decided it was time to say goodbye. I talked to Sheldon, made a plan, and put in my notice to leave at the beginning of August.
We need to rewind a little bit though, because I started a little passion project in April of 2022. I was getting really inspired by secondhand art and craft supply stores that I was seeing pop up online and knew I wanted to bring something like that to Oklahoma City. Teaching craft techniques and making crafts accessible to all has always been a passion of mine. Why not turn it into a business and see what happened? And Trove Arts and Crafts was born.
My First Pop-up for Trove
So I've spent the last two months trying to grow Trove and heal from my burnout. And if I'm being completely honest, it has really been a lot more of me trying to heal than doing much of anything for Trove. I know I am extremely privileged that I was able to do this. Oddly enough, the stability I chose in 2012 created the burnout, but also created my way out... Having worked in public service for over 10 years meant that I was eligible for my student loans to be forgiven and they were in January of this year. Also, I did a slightly dumb thing and took some money out of my retirement. This was not smart, but I gladly paid the VERY HIGH penalty percentage after leaving so I could have break. I would not recommend this, but almost every millennial I know who has left a career in their late 30s has also done this so I don't feel quite as bad about it. I'll probably have to get a part-time job soon. None of this is as glamorous as it might seem.
So here I am, almost 40 and starting a new journey!
Honestly, I haven't blogged regularly in 10 years so that probably isn't going to change. My plan for craftyminx is to move it to wordpress or squarespace. I haven't quite figured out the format I like, but craftyminx.com will be re-mapped at some point. Trove is for secondhand arts and crafts supplies and craftyminx will be used for any classes I teach, or any other services or items I sell. Crochet school will still be here or on the new website for free (in fact, I made beginner kits that go with the class for a pop up this month and they are sooo cute). I'm working on curriculum for other classes to teach online in a similar format to crochet school and in-person. I still have a lot of details to work out and so many more options than I had in 2012, like patreon, and zoom classes, and YouTube videos can be longer than 10 minutes!
If you have remained a friend/follower for all these years, thank you for following this messy journey and for all of your support. Every time a new person learns to crochet because of this blog, I get the warm fuzzies and I want those feelings to continue. I want to be in control of my life and business and do good things and grow my community -- all those wonderful dreamy things can become reality, right? Please follow along on the social medias: I'm craftyminx and troveartsandcrafts on all the things. You can currently shop Trove in two places online (shopify and etsy) but I'm working on just making it an etsy for now so the shopify will soon go away and troveartsandcrafts.com will go to the etsy shop. If you're looking for certain supplies, please ask! I have a large amount of inventory and it takes a really long time to list things on etsy.
I promise I'll try to update the blog with important information before the next 10 years have passed...
