dip N dollop

Well, maybe not badder than ever, since at the heart of it all I really am your classic good Midwestern small-town girl, but I am back!

I follow some really amazing blogs.  Jen from IHeart Organizing, Abbey from The Cards We Drew, Whitney and Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic, Kate from Centsational Girl, Ruth from Living Well Spending Less - just to name a few!  As of right now, I have over 30 blogs in my Feedly feed.  (Feedly feed?  Is it just me or does that sound redundant?)  And every. single. one. of the ladies (and couple of gentlemen) that I follow is above and beyond extraordinary.  They inspire me, guide me, give me great ideas, and terrify me.

Yup.  They terrify me.  I'm a perfectionist.  If I'm not great at what I'm doing, amazing, fantabulous, awesomesauce - well then, what's the point in doing it?  So, as of the time of my last post, I was feeling inferior.  None of my ideas felt creative, and nothing I did compared to the amazing skills these other bloggers had.  How could I compete?!

In addition to feeling "bested", I felt overwhelmed.  I was seeing all of these amazing ideas posted all over the internet and blogosphere, and I wanted to try them ALL!  Ooh, essential oils and making your own face washes and body lotions?  I'm down.  Hey, look, canning and making your own spaghetti sauce and pickles and taco sauce and jams and jelly and dilly beans?  Sign me up!  Organizing and decorating and Project Life-ing and re-decorating and building and card making and crafts for kids and volunteering and sewing and crafts for pets and crafts for husbands and digital design?  Sounds GREAT!  And let's not forget cleaning and making my own cleaners and constantly searching for ways to be more efficient and try new recipes and be an amazing friend and daughter and be the best person ever because everyone has to love me, right??

Whoa.  Hold the phone.

I like instant gratification, so I'd be in the middle of one project, but then I would see something else (be it on Pinterest or another amazing blog) so I would drop what I was in the middle of and scamper off like a little raccoon (they're the ones attracted to shiny objects, right?) to go play with my newest project.  I'm pretty sure that I have things for projects that I don't even remember.  

I couldn't keep up with my own expectations for myself, and I burned myself out.  And then, an amazing thing happened.  I was spending some quality time on the couch with my iPad yesterday, and I was going through Jen's blog over at iHeart Organizing.  And by going through, I mean I started alllll the way from the very beginning of her blog.  And reading her early posts made me remember why I started my blog.  For me.  So I have somewhere to record all of the projects I work on, so I can remember them later down the road.  Do I hope that others read what I write and get something out of it  - and even like me?  Of course!  But I get that my blog isn't for everyone, and I can't make everyone happy, and that's okay.  I can work on projects inspired by other bloggers, and that's okay, too.  Don't they say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?!

And then, for an even clearer sign that I was supposed to come back to the blog, I got this comment last night:

"I found this tutorial in google after searching for a cork board without a wooden frame. My original plan was to just paint a chevron pattern on my board, but I love this idea so much more! "

Oh my Gosh - I got Googled!!!  And the comment was left just as I was wondering if I should come back to the blog.  I'd say that's some pretty awesome blog karma, wouldn't you??

So my bloggy commitments going forward:

Anyone else ever struggle with meeting their own expectations for themselves?  Do you having any coping/calming mechanisms you'd like to share?

Until next time!