diversifying

At the end of last year, post holiday crunch season, I finally had the space to take a breath and look around. It is a quiet time of year that I relish. I took inventory, not of what pottery remained on my studio shelves, but of what was working for my business and what wasn’t. It was also a time to reflect on what was working for my mind, body and spirit. I sat down with these thoughts and wrote some things out with pen and paper. I also made time to choose a word of intention for the year ahead which is an exercise by writer Susannah Conway that I was turned on to by food stylist and author Tami Hardeman. My word for 2023 is diversify. It is such a rich word with many meanings and I felt it was equally applicable to both my business and personal life. I am hoping that keeping that word close throughout the months ahead will help me move out of my comfort zone and bring new directions and exciting things into the days ahead.

So in the spirit of “diversifying” the first thing I knew deeply and finally was a needed change to my relationship with social media, specifically Instagram. I am not ready to completely leave the platform but I have deleted the app from my phone. I check in on my laptop occasionally and plan to keep some kind of presence there as a business tool / directory to my website / gallery of work. I have talked about my struggles and issues with this many times in the past, but this was the first time that there was no conflict for me about it all. Two things were glaringly apparent - 1) IG was no longer translating into sales for me like it once was due to all the algorithmic changes and 2) I truly was not interested and found a lot of the content repetitive and boring. I also felt hyper aware of the time I was wasting there. I want the time that I have so casually given away for years (11+ years!🙈) to be intentionally focused on me - my work, my family, my home, my health, my passions, my dreams. There is a feeling of numbness to being #influenced to part with my hard earned money because of #wellness and beauty culture or because something is trending. Insta-therapy and motivational 10-slide carousels just aren’t hitting the same way anymore. I am tired of things being hacked and bio-hacked. I am uninspired by the curated and perfect. Give me real and messy and honest. In addition, I want my attention span back.

I have gravitated towards reading other peoples long-form writing through Substack and personal newsletters as I’ve noticed that a lot of other creators of all walks are moving away from the big social media outlets. Right now it is something I find relaxing, informative, entertaining and the opposite of overwhelming. Along with this digital reading habit I am finally spending regular time getting through actual books and what a joy that is. This may actually be the year I get a library card and tackle the giant to-read list I have compiled in my phone notes!

Another thing to diversify is business. And I have a lot to say about this but plan to save it for another post. What I will touch on now is how I am dipping a toe into tile making - something that I have wanted to do for a very long while now but never made the time for or it wasn’t working out for various reasons. My first tile samples are making their way through the kiln as I type and it is my hope to use them as a backsplash in my kitchen. Stay tuned for many photos of this process and the finished installation!

Currently I am doing my best to get through the winter. It has been a very wet and colder than usual season here in Georgia which has killed all of the plants in my studio (my 10x12 studio does not have hvac) and done a number on the outdoor plants, the garden and my psyche. It’s hard for me to hunker down and embrace the dim days, a la Wintering style, when the landscape looks so bleak. In the meantime I am leaning into regular morning walks, fresh flowers on the kitchen table, cranking up the space heater a little more, keeping tabs on the tiny little shoots of spring bulbs that are emerging while mentally planning out my planting strategy for the growing season and last but certainly not least, prepping to go back to Mardi Gras for the first time since 2019. There is also an early February shop update that I am in the process of glazing and a pop-up sale at a new coffee shop here in Athens, Choco Pronto on February 11th. Hope to see you there!