(try not to) Second Guess Yourself

~ humoringthegoddess

My first craft show of the year — a double day chance to show off my creative wares, chat with people, and make a little money from my hard work and creativity. It was supposed to be a sunshine day. A bright and bubbly opportunity to share the magic. 

Saturday was hot and humid, sticky and wicky. The craft show was set in a circle pattern, and I had a great spot (four or five spots from the entrance). But as most people turn right whenever they enter a venue, and I was five spots on the left, by the time they made their way past my booth most were hot and sweaty and tired and in no mood for sparkly things.

It wasn’t a total loss, but it could have been better.

Then came Sunday. 

Pouring rain and thunderstorms started at about 6 a.m. We headed to the craft show with positive vibes. Surely it would clear up by show time. Showed up a little after 7 a.m., and sat in the car in the pouring rain until about 7:45 a.m.. Received an email from the craft show boss that the committee would decide by 8:15 a.m. if they were going to close the craft show part of the fair. 

9 a.m. and no word. A number of booths were emptied the day before (lots of rain at the end of the day), and those who showed up Sunday morning were packing up the rest of their wares and heading for the exit. Thunder. Rain. Indecision.

We finally decided to pack it in and go home.

Half way home I received an email that the craft show wasn’t actually cancelled, merely moved to a cement section closer to the center of the fair. We didn’t have the right equipment for a cement setup, so we decided to just go home.

Of course, the thunder and lightning and pouring rain stopped about 12 p.m., and the sun had the nerve to try and peek out from behind the clouds.

Then the guilt trip started to set in.

Maybe I should have sat in the rain for another hour while the committee decided what to do. Maybe I wasn’t a real crafter because I didn’t stick it out. Maybe I should have finished the 40 minute drive home, stopped at the store, bought eight gallons of water, then turned around and headed back to the craft fair and taken 45 minutes setting everything up again and sell my wares for a couple more hours. And, of course the obvious — I wasted a whole day of sales (even though it was more like three hours).

But the decision had already been made. 

Every decision is always 50/50. You will or you won’t. You do or do not. Even if you spend days and weeks thinking and angsting you still have a 50/50 chance of making the “right” choice.

I wanted to savor the self pity I was pouring on myself, but I found it hard to do. I had made the decision to try again another day, and moved on. After all, there are so many more 50/50 decisions to be made.

I wound up making enough to cover my booth fee, a few dollars for my daughter in law (who made my Garden Fairy Wands), and a little money to cover going out to dinner next weekend. 

And there’s always my next fair at the end of September.

Don’t let guilt keep you second guessing yourself. What’s done is done. No woulda shouldas for you.

Your next adventure awaits!

 

 

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Published by humoringthegoddess

I am a writer of fantasy fiction that often surrounds middle-aged women. I am a married mother of two and granny to three, a BoHo Chic kinda gal. I am recently retired and busier than when I worked 9-5. But writing and blogging is my main game.

19 thoughts on “(try not to) Second Guess Yourself”

  1. What a pity !!The weather can do a lot of good or a lot of bad, but it is unpredictable to say the least, Have you tried selling your art trough VINTED ? You ca, buy and sell all sorts of things, old and new. You can do it behind your computer so no wet, cold or hot weather.

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  2. I like your attitude, Claudia! You did the best you could (which is all we can and should do), and you stood by your decision. It sounds like it was the right decision; you know your limitations (not prepared for cement setup). And it sounds like the day was a win! Enough sales to cover expenses, and little leftover for a fun night out. At least you were brave and went! A lot of people wouldn’t do that.

    Btw, do you have your online shop up and running?

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  5. Reminds me of the summer Dennis and I did the local Farmers Market in our small town of Willard. 4-7 pm Fridays We bought a free standing “awning”and had 2 folding tables and chairs. We had mostly hatch peppers which were not well known locally. I brought my Hatch Pepper cookbook so people could take photos of recipes. Dennis chatted up the hotness of the x-hot ones and pretended to have a waiver for them to sign. I extolled the flavor and just enough heat of medium hatches. More conversation than sales. I had cucumbers, jalepenos and dill and physical copies of my dill pickle recipe. Also samples. I always sold out of cucumbers. We earned enough to cover the awning and reward ourselves with a pizza and beer afterwards at Pizano’s Sauce Lounge across the road from the farmers market. The next summer Dennis was recovering from bypass surgery and we decided to garden smaller since. It wasn’t a profitable venture but we enjoyed it.

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    1. And for the most part, I think crafters sell their wares for fun, not a whole lotta profit. I’ve gone to many a fancy upscale show where items were thousands of dollars.. I’ll stick with my little $15 creations. After all, I had a ball making them!

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  7. I do a monthly Market at Creative Geelong Makers Hub. which is in the middle of the city … although it’s an indoor market the weather conditions play a big part in crowd attendences … our last 2 market days have been bitterly cold (winter) and crowds have been meagre … and apparently this Saturday, it’s going to be another cold winters day. ..

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