Priorities, Etsy, and Coffee

A friend once told me a story about a man who put a handful of sand into a dish. Then, he tried to pour a full pot of coffee into the dish followed by a several rocks. (For the purposes of this example, we'll assume that the rocks were either diamonds or the rock candy that tastes like jelly beans. Mmmmm... jelly beans). Obviously, it didn't work and he ended up with a floor full of coffee-soaked diamonds, or possibly jelly beans. Later, he put the rocks into the dish first, followed by the sand, which flowed into the spaces between the rocks, and the coffee, which was soaked up by the sand. It worked beautifully.

I got a bit distracted at the mention of jelly beans and coffee, but I believe the gist of the story was this - you need to get your priorities straight. The first priority should be the rocks, followed by the sand, and then, finally, the coffee. Only, if you put your priorities into the correct order, does everything in your life "fit."

Lately, I've been missing that lesson.

I opened up an Etsy store a few years ago, which quickly became bigger than I expected. I've been spending between four and eight hours a day in front of the computer just managing it. It's caused me to miss out on a lot. For example, in the space of seven years, my daughter has gone from this:

To this:

To this:

My husband hasn't changed as much as my kid, but he's recently embarked on a new career endeavor, and I want to support him 100 percent. My parents have had health issues, and I want to be with them as much as I can. I want to get to know my mother-in-law better, so I've invited her to join us in our travels this summer. My friends are precious to me, and I love them, and want to spend more time with them. I have a lot going on.

In addition, I started taking a creative writing class through the city three years ago that's resulted in a 91,000 word novel, thirteen chapters of a sequel, and a collection of short stories. My aforementioned friends have enjoyed reading those works (either that, or they're very, very polite), and I want to see where the writing will take me.

Plus, my poor sewing machine has been very neglected lately. So have my books, my roller blades, and my bike. I don't even think they remember me at the comic shop.

I've got to start putting the rocks first and the coffee last.

So, I've closed the Etsy shop.

At this point, I don't know if it'll be closed for good, or if I'll open it again at some later date. I've enjoyed creating embroidery designs and sticker images for customers all over the world. I've even learned a few words of French in the process. But, as far as my priorities go, Etsy is the coffee, and I've been putting it first.

My Amazon and eBay shops will remain open, as I operate these with my husband and my parents. And I'll keep blogging, because I really love writing. But, Etsy was all mine, and it's been taking up too much time.

I'm sorry if this inconveniences anyone. My shop's been on vacation while I've been making this decision, and I've been receiving dozens of e-mails asking me to re-open. The guilt of closing it up entirely is gnawing at me a bit, and I know I'll be making more than a few customers unhappy.

But, my daughter and my husband won't be unhappy. And that's what matters to me.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go on a bike ride with my daughter. Maybe we'll pick up some coffee and jelly beans on our way home.