‘Tis the eve of the last day of my Internship with Piddix and in true ‘last day’ spirit I thought I’d share with you some of the most valuable lessons I learned in the last 8 weeks.  If you’re interested in the business side of things, you can read the full blog post over here (as soon as its up).

This list is dedicated to the what I learned about myself during this internship.

Personal Growth: You can’t learn this in the Etsy Forums:

1. I like to take things slow. Corinna likes to dive in. Corinna held me accountable for following through with my goals of making, learning and discovering, but I felt at times like things were moving just a little faster than my comfort level. At this point in my creative career, I want to take it slow. I want to fall in love with the process and if that means having a sparse Etsy shop, a sporadic blog and the occasional freelance job – then that’s the way its going to be. My mother always said, “Let your comfort guide you,” and that message has been loud and clear the last 8 weeks. If I had a toe in before, I’ve at least got both feet in now, which is a big improvement, I think.
2. I am a creature of habit. The last book I reviewed was “The Creative Habit” by Twyla Tharp. While I wasn’t crazy about the book itself, the concept revived me. Since the creative part of me developed through classical ballet, a rigid environment of habit, ritual, technique and infinite repetition, my creative brain is naturally accustomed to more structure. Since I quit ballet 6 years ago, my life has lacked that structure and I had no idea how much my creative energy was suffering because of it. Now that I know that habit and ritual are such an important part of my creative process, I can find my way back to them.
3. I need a room of my own. Remember Corinna’s post about the door? Well I feel exactly the same way. Furthermore, I really miss the feeling of having a space that is all mine. When I lived at home with my parents, my room was a sanctuary and it had a life of its own. I love my house now and I love that I share it with my partner, but I look forward to the day when I can retreat to a room that is mine – ALL MINE!
4. I am not a workaholic. I don’t have a problem sitting still and I don’t have a problem taking time off. Does this make me lazy? I like to think not. I prefer to consider myself I relaxaholic: someone who cherishes down time with loved ones and respects my relationship with others and myself by allowing myself to relax, go to bed early, watch a movie and snuggle or meet up with friends. Can a relaxaholic succesfully run their own business full time? I have my fingers crossed.
5. I need to distance myself from the work of other artists and crafters if i’m going to be creative. When I spend too much time on blogs and websites and at craft fairs and stores admiring other people’s work, I start to doubt my own creative instincts and my ideas quickly become stale. In order to be creative, I need to isolate myself from too  much stimulus so I can be confident that my creation is an expression of myself and not someone else.
6. Follow my instincts. I realized I have good ones, so why not listen to them? Trends, market research, design blogs and craft fairs are all great tools – but in the end, I prefer to follow my instincts.
7. Business is a problem to solve, not a mountain to climb. I’ve been trying to reframe my perception of business ownership. I’ve always thought of it as a mountain, as a struggle, but I think in many ways its more like a game. I still have a long way to go with this one, but I’m starting to realize that owning business can appeal to my love of problem solving and knot untying — I don’t have to think of it as a burden, a life sucking alien or Mount Everest. I can do it!
8. I LOVE photoshop.  I just love it. Its a funny moment when you realize you might like photoshopping the pictures of the Tote more than you enjoyed making the Tote. We’ll see how this develops.

Now that my internship is over, I have few excuses not to be keeping up over here. I hope that means you’ll be seeing me more often!

Stay tuned!