It is a little crazy how time goes by, and you never really take stock of it. There are many days when I feel that I have not accomplished much, if anything at all. Then there are days when I do a little reflecting and stumble upon, or at least look at the documents I use every day, that provide a listing of the works I have completed.
These listings might be staring me in the face, and I am not really looking at them. I keep a spread sheet of all the contracts I am working on and completed. I began this spread sheet when I sold my first design at the end of 2011, and I have currently filled 129 lines. I then have a listing of my self-published designs (that are not included on my contracted list) that I began in mid-2013, and find I have 29 completed with another 6 in progress.
When I actually think about the fact that I really have been on this adventure as a designer for less than 5 years, and I have completed 158 designs, I will be honest…in my mind it doesn’t sound like enough. For some reason I think that I have to have completed so much more. I still average 2.6 designs a month or .6 designs a week, but my mind wants me to finish more. (If you would like to see a majority of these, check out my Ravelry.com designer page….the number of designs listed is lower, but that gives you an idea of how things are constantly in the process).

I should give myself credit when I clean my desk. It catches all my ideas in various stages.

The only way I get my mind to find a little balance is to also place in this weekly schedule that I teach 2 days a week, nearly 20 students every week. That takes prep time, which takes knowledge of my skill, which takes time.
I then have to remember that I am mom to two very active kids. Active enough that one has me volunteered to lead a 4H sewing project every week. Both have me playing chauffer in running to various sports and activities (fortunately my husband does more than his fair share of this running around as well). So, I really only get work done when they are in school.
Then I usually overlook the many hours a week I donate to various organizations, mostly supporting crochet. These hours add up faster then I may think in the beginning of saying “yes” when asked to help.
Only when I finally spell it all out, do I feel like I have accomplished something. It may not be as readily tangible as would work for my mind, but this focus helps “rebalance” me in a sense, so thank you for following along my self-talk of taking stock.
Hopefully this taking “taking stock” will inspire the newest rounds of designs…hopefully it will keep me from beating myself up for a bit…I really do get more done then I think.