How a granola box changed my mindset...

Well, maybe it wasn’t the granola box itself, but the quote on the inside flap that changed my mindset.

But let me start at the beginning.

It was the beginning of 2023, and I made A LOT of goals. We all start a new year with a bit more optimism than a new year deserves. After all, January 1^st is truly no different than December 31^st . You still have all the same opportunities. You’re still the same you.

But we like to go into a new year believing we’re going to be the best version of ourselves we’ve ever been. We’re finally going to run that 10k or squat twice our bodyweight. We’re finally going to take that vacation to Ireland or Australia. We’re finally going to give those new watercolors a try or finish that series of paintings we’ve been working on.

I had BIG financial goals this year…. Goals that I didn’t meet. I set the goal to build my art licensing portfolio, pitch it, and get five new clients. And I did build the portfolio, pitched my work, and… zilch. At best I received a “your work is great, but it doesn’t fit our brand” email, and at worst I heard nothing back at all. I’m happy to say that I will be meeting my goal of painting 20 illustrations using my themes from last year’s 100 Scene Studies Challenge (which is very exciting!), but that’s the only big goal I set that I’ll be achieving this year.

As the year comes to a close and I look back across the months… I’ve been pretty discouraged. I entered 2023 grieving. I had some declines in my health mid-year that I haven’t fully bounced back from. I have so many unmet goals. And I wondered, what did I do this year? If so many of my goals went unachieved, where did the time go?

This morning as I opened a new box of granola (a fancy schmancy new kind with pumpkin seeds, and lemme’ tell ya, it was DELCIOUS), I noticed a quote on the inside flap. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson

At a glance, it was a small harvest this year. My finances are woefully below the goal I’d set. My YouTube channel is nowhere close to that coveted 100,000 subscribers. I made quite a few new products that no one was overly interested in.

But.

Though the harvest was small, I planted SO. MANY. SEEDS.

1. The Meraki Meadow. Y’all, I have NO IDEA where this one is going, but I’m blown away by how the Meraki Meadow has grown. It’s restored my passion for art and storytelling, and it’s connected with so, so many of you. I don’t know what the harvest looks like for the Meraki Meadow, but it’s a very big seed that was planted this year.

2. I FINALLY built my website and online shop! Did I get 1000s of orders? No. Not even close. But every order is a seed, whether it’s 20 prints or a single sticker. And I shipped INTERNATIONALLY this year!! I was blown away to see my art going to France, Denmark, Australia, and many more incredible countries. The idea that my art can still speak to people even when we don’t share a vocal language is INCREDIBLE to me.

3. My YouTube channel. No, it’s not a huge channel. But, I did get monetized. We did reach 10k subscribers. So many people have commented that my art, my creative struggles, and the stories I tell have touched their lives. And to me, those are not small things.

So many other seeds were planted this year too. Some are too early to share, and some are a little more personal. But this year wasn’t a loss just because I didn’t meet all of my goals. Seeds were planted.

Maybe you’ve been feeling down about this year, too. I see you, I hear you, I understand. But maybe you need to look at things a little differently too. To look at the seeds you planted rather than the harvest you reaped. And through it all, please remember to have grace on yourself, friend. Life happens. And that’s okay.