Just Saying "No"--the Fine Art of Achieving Balance

 

My latest finished quilt--Radiating Star

A customer quilt that I finished last week.

A customer quilt for a teenager's fair project

  So, here's the thing...life gets hectic.  Even when you quit your full time teaching job to pursue, shall we say a "less stressful" workload by starting your own longarm quilting business, before you know it your calendar is jammed full.  At least mine is.  How did it happen?  I am asking myself the same thing.  All I know is this:  looking ahead at my calendar for the next two months, I don't have a Saturday free until October 2, and even that is iffy.  Then, not another one until November 2.  This is a problem, and a blessing.  How can it be both?

   Well, when I started my business almost 6 years ago, I was substitute teaching part-time, and working as an administrative assistant part-time to make enough money to supplement the quilting thing.  I was quilting 5 or 6 customer quilts per month. Gradually, I stopped subbing.  I cut back from 4 days a week at my administrative assistant job to 3, then 2, and finally 1.  Eventually, I took the leap and went full-time on my longarm.  I've never been without enough work to keep the bills paid and food on the table.  My workload has remained in a steady upward trajectory for the past 5 years.  It is truly a blessing to work at home in my pj's doing something that I really enjoy.  It is a blessing to be able to take time to help my mom at the quilt shop, to keep my grand-babies for a few days now and then, and to have time to teach, speak, and do trunk shows.  These are all good things.  However, when the schedule begins to run me, rather than me running the schedule, I have to wonder, "Where can I cut back?"  Immediate answer...nowhere!  Long term, though, I really need to learn to say "no" a bit more often.  My problem is that I just love teaching a class, even if I only have a couple of students.  I love travelling to Kearney several times a month to help my mom at her shop.  I love getting to events like Quilt Nebraska to fellowship with others of like interests.  Hmmmm...well, maybe saying "no" more often will have to be on my "to do" list for next year :)