Monday, February 11, 2013

What If

Seems like every potter I know has the seasonal doubts. This is not  really a lucrative profession and when the cash flow gets dammed up in January and February folks start wondering if they should have gone to Truck Driver Training School. It afflicts humble little part time potters as well as artists with international reputations. That little voice that keeps asking -"Am I good enough?", "Will anyone come to the show?", or "What if I forget my pants?" does keep quality control at a high level. It pushes people to produce their best work but that doesn't make it any easier to live with. Believe it or not, I don't have a solution to this one other than to say we all feel this way sometimes. If anyone has suggestions chime in down in the comments section.

 Here's a poem from Shel Silverstein

The What Ifs
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some What ifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old What if song:
What if I'm dumb in school?
What if they've closed the swimming pool?
What if I get beat up?
What if there's poison in my cup?
What if I start to cry?
What if I get sick and die?
What if I flunk that test?
What if green hair grows on my chest?
What if nobody likes me?
What if a bolt of lightning strikes me?
What if I don't grow taller?
What if my head starts getting smaller?
What if the fish won't bite?
What if the wind tears up my kite?
What if they start a war?
What if my parents get divorced?
What if the bus is late?
What if my teeth don't grow in straight?
What if I tear my pants?
What if I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime What ifs strike again!


8 comments:

  1. Ahhh... The what ifs and the what am I dongs, I know them well!
    I have decided to make myself happy, working on that very post today:)
    Thanks for the poem and the thoughts!!

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  2. I love Shel, but thankfully I'm not a doubter or what-ifer. There is still nothing that I'd rather do.

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  3. Thanks Tracey. Dan, maybe you could do some motivational speaking.

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  4. Really, I live with the what ifs... and I do love shel

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  5. Perfect timing Dennis! I am going through huge "what ifs" right now. January and February are hard months to make a living selling pots. I wish I could afford to pay for your "Worry Free for a Modest Fee" program!

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  6. I hear you Dennis. Sometimes that doubt voice gets pretty strong and we just have to keep remembering to keep our feet moving forward. At least, that's what I've been doing for the past year as life handed us some lemons and I'm following my own advice, taking one day at a time and just moving forward, finding gratitude for the good stuff and making the rest work.

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  7. I think we go through these thoughts this time of year due to the lower sales after the holiday rush. It's somewhat bi-polar. I try to remind myself that I'm doing what I love and I try to do some new work that keeps the creativity flowing.

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  8. "what am I dongs?" WTF, I really ned to proof read before I hit send, haha!
    meant to say what am I doing, clearly I don't know what I'm doing! But look at June, I think her lemons turned into yummy lemonade, she is rocking it on the west coast!

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