Today’s shared story comes from artist Katie Clemons who divides her time between Berlin, Germany and a hangar in rural Montana, USA.
Image via gadanke.com
You’re not going to jump up every morning and say, “This is awesome!” Every minute of every day just isn’t like that, right?
A journal with writing prompts can really demonstrate how you’re feeling. Like I look at this page of a home minibook called “Love Where We Live”, and I think, “YES! This is me doing what I love, being where I love to be.”
My grandma and I were sitting in a recording studio for NPR’s StoryCorp. It was her 90th birthday, and I was interviewing her about her life and what she loved to do.
She looked at me with sad blue eyes and said, “I don’t remember. I wish I did.”
There was nothing she could do. But I knew there was something that I could do.
When we lose our stories, there is no turning back. I began a deep study of memory keeping, essay writing, and journaling. I started keeping successful journals (no more of those half-written books or pages that go on and on about nothing). Then I started taking my techniques and creating journals of writing prompts to help other celebrate their stories. This has become a business – Gadanke.
I decided to create my first personal journals two weeks before I took my private pilot’s test. It was one week before my husband and I had to get out of our rental and three weeks before we were moving from rural Montana, USA to Berlin, Germany.
I knew in my gut: I had to go for it.
Sometimes, when you are challenging yourself with big, scary steps (like flying an airplane solo!), other things don’t scare you as much. You find courage and bravery. You do the seemingly impossible. And you succeed.
Sometimes, our parents have HUGE dreams for us in things like law and medicine. I loved what I was doing with Gadanke, but there was this whisper in the back of my head saying, “It’s not good enough. Your parents expected more.”
The day I accepted the EcoStar Award for my green business practices by the governor, my parents stood and cheered in the Capitol rotunda.
I kicked those little whisperers out of my head forever.
Success doesn’t have to start with the word “doctor”. You don’t need a series of letters behind your name and fancy diplomas on the wall.
Now my husband and I are remodelling an old airplane hangar. We want to build a little loft home in the back. We also want to give Gadanke its very own home in an underutilized storage space in the facility. It’s exciting! It’s exhausting. I’m blogging the progress at Making This Home.
[Images courtesy of Katie Clemons.]
Katie helps people capture memories and express their thoughts creatively with her eco-friendly journals. Her award-winning business, Gadanke, offers handmade journals filled with writing prompts and fun embellishments. Find out more about Katie on her blog Making This Home or in her shop, connect on Twitter (@MakingThisHome) or Facebook]
