Making/Earning a Living

Last night I was thinking about how nice it would be to NOT have to get up early and go to work. Or rather, it would be nice if I could just work from home. I actually like my day job, it's the getting up early and all the trafficky bits that annoy me.

Then I pondered the daydream of earning enough money on my crafty makes to live comfortably. I think a lot of people daydream about that one too.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it probably wouldn't work. At least, not at first, or even for awhile.

I love being crafty and curious and creative and seeing what I can do with whatever bits I have on hand.  Writing, art, photography, I am like a magpie of hobbies.  I enjoy the fiddling in my free time and there is no pressure in having to be "good," because it's just fun and play for me.

And therein lies the problem.  I think, for me anyway, that if I were to put any sort of deadline or pressure to create on my creativity, it would probably tell me to sod off. Unless I was really successful and selling mass quantities of things with no fear of needing money, then I don't think I could live off my art, stress free.

That puts a lot of pressure on the artist and the art in question and could create blocks and all sorts of havoc.  Having a day job lets me make a living and gets my introverted self out of the house for a bit and takes the monetary pressure off of me and my making so that me and my making can continue to have fun.

It would be totally awesome to be self sufficient - be nothing but an artist and maker and if the opportunity ever arose, I would jump on it for sure.  But working lets me be curious and creative and without those things I am annoyed and stressy and blocked.  Maybe I just need to rearrange my daydreams to working but sleeping in late and avoiding traffic. 

That would make me a much calmer person!



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