My horoscope (scorpio sun, scorpio moon, scorpio rising, scorpio venus, oh and some more scorpio in there somewhere) has advised that I should be very cautious about what I say on social media because the likelihood of committing a faux pas is pretty high at the moment. I guess everything is in retrograde, so keeping it to myself seems like just as a good of an idea lately as it ever has. But. The news these days. I feel like it is important to take a chance and say something about where I stand, and how I’m feeling at the moment.
I used to be a fairly happy person, but life happens, you eventually grow up and begin to understand the value of watching the news. I do not like to discuss politics here, but I am terrified about the future and to say that I’m feeling hopeless these days would be an understatement. Sure, you can vote, and I do, but you don’t always get who or what you vote for. Most of you are probably aware that I live in a red state and I want to be clear: I did not vote for these “people” and I do not share their extreme viewpoints. I am very live-and-let-live, I do not impose my beliefs and preferences on other people, and our differences are what make life interesting. Now, if I see someone I care about doing something stupid and dangerous I will say something, but otherwise, you do you.
2022 had the potential to be much better than 2020 and 2021, and I was about to be convinced that it was headed that way, but instead, has been a different kind of hell. At least, for someone like me, who tends to see things from a human perspective rather than a political one. And it isn’t like I can say “woe is me, but at least this is a wonderful world, and other people are doing okay, so there is hope” because the wars, the irresponsibility, the greed and other peoples’ agendas and politics – whatever they may be – are affecting everyone but the one percent… and I don’t know them and never will, they might as well live on a different planet than the rest of us. Mars, eventually. And good riddance, I say. There is no moderation or reason, they’ve all got something to prove and they’re at each others’ throats, and so much of it is a petty distraction. It’s all too extreme, all the time, and I long for the peace and quiet of everyone just minding their own business somewhere in the middle. I lost my naivete a while back, and my idealistic tendencies naturally went with it, so I do realize that isn’t likely to happen.
It has been difficult to make these luxury items under the weight of everything and ask the prices I need to ask to compensate myself for the time, skill and materials I put into them, in the current environment. I sometimes feel wrong about spending my time this way, for a variety of complicated reasons I won’t bore you with. I have not raised my prices, but I can’t afford to lower them. I wish I could just give my work away, that would be better for my soul, but the resulting jailtime for shoplifting toiletries certainly wouldn’t be. Maybe someday I can do something that feels right. We’ve even bought a few lottery tickets, because I feel like if I won the big one, I could do some good for the people in my life, and I don’t need much to be comfortable. But I know that’s about as likely to happen as world peace. I know the people closest to me would tell me that I do enough good already, and I have made a focused effort to surround myself with decent people who truly care about me and know my real value. At least I have that going for me.
So, anyway. I’m tentatively planning a shop update this Sunday. Very tentatively. And it’s not going to be a big to-do, just a couple of odds and ends, but it’s probably worth checking out, I guess. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.
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