I have a bad habit of writing myself off. I think a lot of women do. When people ask me what I'm doing these days I usually say, "Oh not much". The fact is that I'm doing a lot. Just because I don't have a "normal" 9-5 job that I go to doesn't mean that I'm lounging around watching TV and eating potato chips all day.
The question I've been asking myself lately is why don't I tell people what I do? I go to school, I run an Etsy shop, I run a blog, and I nanny 3 days a week. I love what I'm doing so why is it so hard for me to tell people? Is that too much to say in one sentence? Am I embarassed? Am I afraid I'll look like I'm trying to show off? It's probably a mix of all 3.
I'm embarassed because I'm a 27 year old who left her full time job to move across country and try to finish school. Sure, I've been in school for a long while trying to figure out what I want to do but I shouldn't be embarassed about that. I refuse to settle for something that doesn't blow me away. In Iowa, I had a really good job that paid well but I hated it. I knew that if I stayed doing the same job that I would turn into someone that I didn't want to be. So I changed my situation. Nothing to be embarrased about.
A lot of the time when I do tell people what I do, they don't know what any of it is. So many people don't know what Etsy or blogging are. This opens up a whole new can of worms everytime I talk about it. I've never been particularly good at talking about what is going on in my life, I'm a pretty reserved person. What I'm learning is that I don't have to go into super personal details in order to talk about my business. I don't need to say, "I run an Etsy shop and it's super scary and sometimes I feel like I'm never going to be a good enough business person to actually make it successful so I'm constantly doubting myself and I don't know if I'll ever make this blog successful and I am worried that my writing and photos and diy projects aren't good enough and I want to finish school sometime soon and sometimes I'm just overwhelmed and don't know what the hell I'm doing". That would be a bit much. When people ask me what I do I can simply say, "I nanny 3 times a week, run and Etsy shop, I write a blog, and I'm working on finishing my graphic design degree" Simple and to the point. The questions people ask me about Etsy and blogging aren't scary and they aren't grilling me, most of the time people are genuinly interested. I am my own best advertising and I need to learn that just telling people about what isn't bragging. I love what I'm doing and I should learn to open up about it.
