Random Thoughts Thursday Part 13

We live in a day and age where most people try to monetize just about EVERYTHING. Ask the youth of today about their dream job, and you will certainly find some who dream of being a famous YouTuber, TikTok star, or Instagram influencer. There are even ways to monetize a blog if you want to take the time to find a host site for it, build up traffic, and open yourself to banner ads to sell to your readers. I can't say that I blame people for wanting to make money. We all need to earn enough to pay the bills, so a little side hustle isn't such a bad thing. But once again, there comes a point where the lines can easily cross, turning a fun hobby into a stressful job that you no longer enjoy. This by no means is meant as a "brag," but I am an artist and am able to create many things with my hands. I ENJOY making unique things that I give away to others. Inevitably, I get feedback from the recipients along the same lines: "You are really good at..." or "These are really beautiful..." or "This is so unique..." followed by the statement, "You should go into business." Why? I enjoy making decorative things, writing posts, poems, songs, creating educational games, etc. FOR FUN. Now, if I HAD to make something under time pressure and quality control to sell it, I am not sure I would enjoy the process anymore.

School Events and Opportunities to Share

At my school, I am known as the lead decorator for our community events. Everyone consults me about decorations before planning for concerts, talent shows, festivals, banquets, and the school play. I really enjoy making the activities beautiful for the students, families, and staff. It is important to me that the photographs taken to remember student achievement have a proper backdrop to really embed these happy memories in the minds of the participants for many years to come. No one pays me extra to make anything for these events. In fact, many times I buy my own supplies to create something on the theme of choice. I ENJOY the challenge. I LOVE seeing the result. And BONUS, I am a teacher, so I teach the students who are interested how to make any of my creations as I go along. Group projects provide wonderful quality time to get to know students and staff as we cut, paste, and paint, and the final outcomes of our work are always a source of pride when displayed at an event.

Elegance on a Shoestring Budget
I think my favorite event to date was creating the decorations for one teacher's wedding. Twelve students and staff took turns helping me in small groups of three or four, staying several days after school to cut and fold over 900 paper napkin flowers that I was able to use to construct garlands, table bouquets, and other decorations to use at the wedding ceremony. My favorite part was that the guests didn't realize they were handmade flowers. They looked like store-bought (expensive) silk flowers. My point is that there is something very special about sharing your hobbies and talents with someone. For a solid month, my "rotating crew" of students and co-workers worked a few at a time to make something beautiful for a very kind teacher at our school. All the kids had had her as their English teacher at least once during their time at the school. It was their turn to give something back to her. My colleagues and I have worked with this teacher for 10 years in most cases, and we were SO HAPPY for her that she was getting married; we wanted to express our care and joy for her too, and wedding decorations were a perfect outlet. Now, let me ruin the mood of this whole story. What if, at the end of this process, I handed the bride-to-be an itemized bill with hours tracked and receipts for napkins and glue? Ugh, I cringe to even think about it. Mind you, my friend is very generous, and I had to restrain her from paying us. She couldn't contain her gratitude, though, and did end up giving us some very thoughtful gifts in return. None of us contributed to the project with expectations of getting anything monetary. What we did gain was a lot of laughter at the stories we shared that we did not previously know about each other. And the teenagers who helped? I guarantee that they can make low-budget décor for their wedding some day, should they want to. :-)

In that (rather long) example, I had many, MANY offers from people watching the process to earn money making decorations for events. Some even asked me to organize a class to teach flower making and flower arranging. For me, this idea ties me down to a very time-consuming business. I want to be free to do things as I choose and to give to those around me as I see opportunities. If I fill my schedule with money-making orders, I won't have time to explore new hobbies I have yet to discover. I really can't imagine taking on another HUGE project like a wedding and committing to creating 1000 flowers for a "customer" anyway. Giving a gift to a bride who is your friend is a lot different vibe than working for a bride who EXPECTS perfection for a price. It doesn't sound relaxing at all.

Give and it will be Given to You

My thoughts in this blog are about sharing your time and talents with others. Does everything you do for someone need to be a paid gig just because it could be? I love to be on the giving side of things because it makes me happy when I can do something for someone that they could not do for themselves. Over time, though, when you have invested in enough people in your community, the cup just overflows, and you have to learn to receive as well when people want to do some things for you. This was actually a lot harder for me than giving at first, but now I am learning to be a "joyful receiver" too. People at my school know that I love chess, and so when they really want to make my day, they give me some cute things that are chess-related. If you go back and look through the pictures of my blog, I have tried to take pictures of a lot of the chess items that have landed on my desk as surprises from friends I work with. They give me chess things at random times—not just on holidays or my birthday, just because they were out and saw something chess-related and could not resist giving it to me. Forgive me if I made anyone jealous; I KNOW how fortunate I am to work in such a wonderful environment. I will NEVER take that for granted. If you want to see some of the chess gifts that I have gotten over the years, just take a look at the pictures above the titles of my blog posts. (See list below.) I try to post pictures of the things I have received because, for me, it makes my heart smile to see the images and remember the person who was so kind to me.

Random Thoughts Thursday, Part 12

The small wooden chess set was a gift from a colleague who bought it on her trip to Israel.

Random Thoughts Thursday, Part 11

Handmade earrings from a colleague who commissioned another friend to make them

Random Thought Thursday, Part 9

A coffee mug birthday present from my favorite chess buddy

Random Thoughts Thursday, Part 6

Oh good grief, seven of those boards are gifts. One of them is from a friend who brought the set from Ecuador. Another gave me a set she bought in Turkey.

Chess Puzzles

A colleague saw that I was into wooden puzzles last year. Obviously, she could not pass a wooden chess puzzle without getting it for me.

Seize the Day!

The same lady who commissioned the earrings outdid herself and commissioned a knight!

Chess Fashion

Ok, this I did pay a bit for because I did not want my friend to spend so much time for free, but I had a friend who was learning to sew with a teacher. She wanted a project to work on, so I bought purple fabric, and she made me a dress for free just as a learning project. When I saw she was talented, I commissioned two more dresses with a chess theme. She enjoyed the practice, and I greatly benefited from the inexpensive, custom clothes.

Why do we love this game?

Another colleague saw these cute heart earrings that looked like chess boards and felt I HAD to have them. Yep, I wear them often.

An Extensive Chess Collection

The board in front... Yes, that's the board from Turkey.

Chess any time, anywhere?

And that's a close-up of the board from Israel.

If you have made it this far, you might be thinking that this is a rather odd post. But hang on; the conclusion is just around the corner. It is my personal opinion that people do not need to be so preoccupied with monetizing their gifts and talents in life. If you live life with an open hand, allowing some things to come TO you and other things to come FROM your hands, it can be very fulfilling. I don't spend my time looking for ways to get something from people. Instead I preoccupy my days finding ways to give to others. It always comes back to me in various ways and I can't seem to win the race of outgiving what I receive. It is quite amazing! If you are a fan of that movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," and you imagine the ending where the whole town comes together to help George Bailey, you'll understand a bit better what I am trying to say. I think Clarence in the movie describes it best when he writes, "No man is a failure who has friends."

Special Thanks

This particular blog post was inspired by a friend of mine who recently started studying graphic design. He wanted a "real" project to work on and practice with, so he chose to use my blog to make something useful for me while he was learning. I was SO surprised when he gave me several designs as a gift just because... well, he is kind and thoughtful. Today's post image has a bit of pizzazz, and I am so grateful that he shared it with me. Thanks Den!

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And for the rest of my readers, I hope you find yourself sharing the fruits of your hobbies with others. It really is so refreshing for both the giver and the recipient. All I see is a win-win!

As always, I wish you peace, joy, and love!
Cheers!

Heart decoration for my friend's wedding made with handmade paper napkin flowers
1 meter x 1.5 meters