Inspiration, Motivation & Creation – Oct. 2019

Tuesday 1st October 2019

Hello everyone,

October has finally arrived bringing with it all its Autumnal joy and beauty.

This month is full of amazing things from start to finish; falling amber leaves, picking conkers and acorns (maybe if you’re very lucky you might see a red squirrel or two up in the trees), half term holidays and last but not least Halloween.

Although there is a lot of wonderful wildlife in the UK, some of you may have noticed that there has been some eight-legged visitors to your homes of late, well unfortunately for arachnophobes it’s spider season once again. Now I personally don’t mind the majority of spiders (which is why it always seems to be me who has to catch them and let them out in the back garden) especially the little ones, but I’m definitely not a fan of the big ones with the long legs that scuttle around at lightning fast speeds.

I always get a sense of dread when Mum and Dad turn to me and say those three words… “Get em’ Bex”.

But anyway, I do have some good news – last year my Mum read something on the internet – or it might’ve been Facebook as she’s on there 24/7 – saying that spiders are not very fond of conkers, I don’t know why, maybe they came, saw and were ‘conkered’ once in their lifetime (ba dum tsshh). How true it actually is and how well it works I don’t know (it’ll work differently for everyone), but what I do know is that last Autumn/Winter we got some conkers from the local park, brought them home, put the conkers in a small glass bowl and we barely had any spiders in those 6 months.

So that’s my big top tip for Autumn 2019, let me know if it helps or whether the spider/conker method is just a myth ?   

Anyway, enough about spiders, this month’s blog is all about INSPIRATION and how it can help to motivate our everyday lives.

In order to gain inspiration, you must first become inspired.

Inspiration can come in many forms; from literature, films, social media, etc. which then motivates our own actions; whether it be painting a picture, writing a song, creating a film, maybe choreographing your own dance routine, cooking a delicious meal from a recipe in a cookbook, or writing a thoughtful letter to a friend – these are great examples of what can be created from a little bit of inspiration, but simply being a good person is just as meaningful and inspiring to others as well as yourself.

There have been many things that have helped to inspire my own work that I never would’ve imagined to be useful – I mean who would’ve thought that the simplest thing like a snowdrop would help to inspire the name of a sewing business? ?

So, remember what I was just saying before about how being a good person can inspire others and give somebody else that little bit of encouragement and motivation that they need? Well, it can really make a person’s day that little bit brighter. I’d like to share with you something that happened to me last month, and how the outcome has helped to motivate and inspire me and my outlook on my daily life.

As any new business knows it’s tough-going for at least the first couple of years or so because you’ve got to get yourself known to the rest of the world – and if you’re an online business with no shop, like Sew-Drops, it’s a lot harder (why is it never as easy as they make out in the films?).

You have good days, but with those good days comes an equal number of worrisome ones where you’re wondering if it’s all going to work out because you just can’t seem to move off of square 1 and get the ball rolling. I’ll be honest with you all, I have had bad days where I’ve had a good cry, which I think is perfectly natural – I find it really helps sometimes to talk to others especially my Mum and Dad, because they really want this business to succeed too – trust me, it’s a lot better than bottling up your emotions.

I really want this business to work, I mean, it’s my baby (of sorts) that we’ve put so much time, effort and work towards creating and I’m going to fight to.

In early September, my Mum found a page on Facebook called ‘My Painted Bear’ that create beautiful artwork accompanied by inspiring quotes and phrases. Mum decided to purchase one of the 2020 calendars from their website but before doing that she had been in contact with the owner, somewhere along the way Sew-Drops must’ve come into conversation and they gave us some good advice about what we could do. I thought that was the end of it, but to my surprise when the calendar arrived (which is lovely by the way), they’d also sent me a small gift. One of their prints (the frame is our own) with a very inspiring message:

“Dream your dreams a size too big so you can grow into them.”

Now, so you know, my Mum never asked the company to do this for me, but that simple act of kindness lifted my spirits. I will be placing this in my Sewing Room where I can always be reminded to dream my dreams a size too big, so that I may grow into them.

Thank you My Painted Bear x

(Check out more of My Painted Bear’s artwork on their Facebook page)

I hope that my story has helped to inspire you to help motivate and support others, and for others to help motivate and support you in return.

Until next time.

Best Wishes,
Rebecca x