Etsy ???!?!?!?! Mules in My LIfe

Etsy is the Muse of Stubborn Confusion...Someday I am going to figure out Etsy and open a shop...everything is so new to me in this blog, Etsy art world...I get overwhelmed with the possibilities...

It seems that almost everyone I admire and visit in this blog community has an Etsy shop or some online way to sell their artwork. I have tried to figure out Etsy but it seems very complicated with the commissions, percentages, taxes...Then how does one become organized enough to actually package and ship the art?

I will share a secret impediment, a troublesome and embarrassing state of affairs...I have difficulty in mailing. I know it sounds silly, but I can manage to get the stuff together and, sometimes, actually get it into an envelope, but putting the stamp on and getting it into the hands of the post office is a mysterious skill that often escapes me... I have never understood this obstacle...is it stubbornness, neglect, ADD, the inability to complete anything? Is it reluctance; unwillingness, an objection. Why do I seem to struggle with this seemingly innocuous task?

I can paint a mural on the outside of a baseball stadium, I can organize an black tie event for 500 people, I can speak before thousands of people, but I can't surmount the great mailing obstacle. The second part of the equation is even more unfathomable...I am still wary to place my credit card information on the Internet... (Remember I have trust issues) so PayPal is another place I have avoided like the plague...Thus, the conundrum...

How do I overcome the obscure self-imposed obstacles and open an Etsy shop with some way for my raving multitude of fans to actually purchase my art???

I once heard obstacles referred to as mules. Stubborn little notions you carry with you that become unmovable obstacles.What I know about these mules: Mules are stubborn - if you try to coax them to move, they ignore you and when you try to shove them out of the way, they plant their feet and refuse to budge. Mules will halt your progress -when you are moving full steam ahead, they somehow get in front of you and block or throw you off your path. Mules don’t go away -a deeply-entrenched one can keep you from ever achieving your goals.

However aware I am that the mules in life are temporary, I can still manage to magnify them out of proportion. So how do I fix this.... I'm thinking??!?!?

OK, here's the amazing, life-altering answer...When it comes down to it, the biggest mule in my life is Little Ole Me! Specifically, it is my thoughts about myself that create the mules in life that hold me back. WOW...that was like birthin' a baby!! Getting to know yourself intimately is an eye opening experience...

No matter how enlightened I think I am or how empowered I become, for some unknown reason, I can manage to find some subtle way to sabotage my progress... and, just when I think I am fixed, life has a way of putting more mules in my path that force me to go beyond the limiting boundaries I set.

Today's aMUSEment - What are the mules holding you back today? Do you say things like, “It will never work,” or "I don’t have any money or enough money,” or “No one will buy what I create”? Do you have a fear of the unknown that causes you to question and/or doubt yourself?

Today we are going to use these mules as a springboard to reach new heights and to experience new things. I will reveal "the secret"...OK it is my "the secret" but it helps me and it can help you too...

Mules in life are not real! This is profound stuff here so I will repeat it... Mules in life are not real! They are an illusion you created from your perceptions...You created them, you nurtured them, and you can find a way around them. I know what you're thinking, “Oh please Rebecca! I already know that!” If you know that, why are you in the same position you were months or years ago?

When a mule appears in your life you can:
1) abandon your goal. Rationalize that it is not really important to you anyway and you can simply give up...this is the easiest thing to do.

2) wait for the mule to go away. If you postpone or procrastinate when things get difficult you can cycle back to 1...

3) move the mule out of the way. This will frustrate you, drain all your positive energy, and lead you back to 1...Why?? Your objective is to achieve your dreams not move the mule.

4) go around the mule. Once you realize that the obstacle is really a mule and understand that a mule is stubborn, will halt your progress, and will never go away; you can accept that you have a mule and begin to look for another path to your goal...

Example of Some of My Mules: (read Connect the Dots...Of Your Life below for complete story) I was a well-know muralist with commissions throughout the world when I broke my back (MULE) in 1998. I was told I would never climb scaffolding/ladders again (MULE). I worked really hard to create a place for me in my industry and achieved that as a teacher, motivational speaker, author, columnist, editor.... Then, I hit the biggest, most stubborn MULE of my life when I was told I had an inoperable cyst on my spine... and I went home to die (MULE)...

Now I have given tremendous amounts of energy to moving that MULE and had just about abandoned my dreams...when I began repurposing my life goal to support myself with my small art...

Today I am energised about this new goal and I realize that the MULES turned out to be a blessing. One result is this blog and the friends I am making every day throughout the world... so finding the path around the MULE is taking me on a new journey and new journeys are always full of possibilities.

U Be Creative Today!