tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525161379578984040.post1543014795690775316..comments2023-12-15T00:45:21.381-05:00Comments on Unmapped Country: Worldly Success and the ArtistHope Perlmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10599511890390199730noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525161379578984040.post-15420853438072274052011-05-10T14:57:41.494-04:002011-05-10T14:57:41.494-04:00Scrollwork, I think this is funny: I aspire to be ...Scrollwork, I think this is funny: I aspire to be a burned-out corporate writer. Okay, not exactly. But I am trying to get some freelance corporate writing to supplement our family's income. I believe this is irony. <br /><br />Of course I'm pursuing my artistic passion as well, but am trying to collect some of those "fruitful contribitions" that you've been collecting.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting!Hope Perlmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10599511890390199730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525161379578984040.post-40879059654417588182011-05-09T17:47:47.835-04:002011-05-09T17:47:47.835-04:00Hope, for those of us who feel like you do about s...Hope, for those of us who feel like you do about success and its elusiveness, probably one of the sanity-savers is exactly what you're doing: pondering how to define it for ourselves. The definition also has to include some sort of timeframe: how long is too long to strive for it? When do we shove aside the dream and surrender to the practical necessities? In a year? Never? And what compromises are we willing to make to achieve the dream?<br /><br />I'm in the middle of midlife reinvention from a burned out corporate writer to a creator of wearable art. Success metrics would include sales from my etsy shop. Just today I was disheartened to find that another seller who opened shop four months after I did already has 50 sales. I have ZERO. What keeps me going is that long before I started on this path I made it clear to myself what my success metrics included besides sales: daily fulfillment (having an outlet for my creativity), liberation from moronic bosses, the opportunity via my blog to inspire other people toward nurturing their own creativity, and a strong example of perseverance for my three daughters to emulate.<br /><br />In the end we choose what story about ourselves to tell the world. But we must also be the first to stand by that story. When I lost my job more than a year ago, one of the ways I recovered was to decide that I wasn't going to accept the label "unemployed." I was going to define myself in terms of the new pursuits that became possible: blogger, photographer, ballroom dance instructor, costume designer, choreographer, wearable art creator.<br /><br />The fact that right now I can no longer contribute financially to the household is mitigated by the decades of fruitful contributions, financially and more, that I've already made. The fact that I haven't achieved success in my new niche is cushioned by the decades of steady accomplishments behind me. It's not resting on my laurels, exactly, merely reassuring myself that they're there and more are to come.<br /><br />I think if we don't pursue our dreams we'll look back with great regret. I look at my mother's generation, the unrelenting practicality and sacrifice of their own dreams, and I truly cannot say that she is happy with how she lived her life. And I want to be able to look back and say that I was happy with how I chose to live mine.Scrollworkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09761198237613139398noreply@blogger.com