The Art of "Rolling With It"

2025 was the year my small business was going to be completely ready for the holiday season! Right?? I was feeling very in control and like a responsible adult that I could be proud of (finally!) and I was expecting my new shipment of silk scarves in September. What followed was a series of not-so-comical events, which at first were very stressful for me: A big delay in my shipment, then more delays. I was going to let people down. I was out of scarves with no end in sight. It usually takes 6-8 weeks to create more. The holidays were coming and so were the emails asking, “When are these scarves back in stock?” My small business was not businessing. I was feeling like a failure.

In September, my relatively clean office should have been filled with fabric and abuzz with activity

I was making myself crazy with the thought of not meeting my own expectations for this fall. Until…

I realized that my huge amount of stress was only coming from my own expecations

Oh.

So that means even when things are feeling out of control, the one thing I can control is my reaction to them. One thing I’m learning with age (Oh my gosh, is this the “wisdom” I’ve heard so much about?) is to learn to stop trying to control things, people, and outcomes. I was creating stress for myself and I didn’t even know I was doing it.

I’ve adopted an easier way which I like to call “surfing” or “rolling with it”. Meaning, when life comes at you with challenges, you ride that wave and let it go past, always moving forward letting the stressful situations float past and behind you as you solve what you can.

So what could I solve in that in that situation? How I spend my time.

Instead of spending my time worrying about these setbacks, I decided to sit down and get back to basics. I followed my instincts and began to make unique jewelry pieces with special stones I have been storing for “someday”: new pieces that I would never make again. Just pure creativity.

Not only was it a great distraction, but it was really fulfilling to finally work with these beautiful stones. And now here we are in December. The scarves just came in AND I have many new pieces of jewelry that I’m very proud of.

In the end, I’m so glad I didn’t spend that time worrying or berating myself, which wouldn’t have helped anything. I rolled with it and surfed right over that wave. Here's to surfing right into next year. 

You can find these handmade treasures in my store while they last. Thanks for hanging out with me today!