Seeing Beyond The Dot

There's so much going on with the shop move and all of the meetings, emails, planning, and oh yeah, painting, that I am feeling a bit like a spaz.  Going with the flow is crucial as is compartmentalizing and scheduling priorities, but to be completely honest here...I've been feeling a little like this:

In times like these I revert to my nighttime vigil.  I'm a reader.  Instead of downloading a good book on the Kindle, I instead lay there in the dark and research everything til a million o'clock in the morning.  

Lately it's Google Fest 2013.  I will Google anything and everything, reading blogs of others in this business, products, self-help tips, whatever my all-over-the-place brain wants to see.  Like, it's sick.  

When Google is your life coach you may need to re-evaluate some things, right?  Don't judge (wink).  

My vigil usually ends around 3am or so, once I am full to the brim and feel like I learned something new or saw something from a different perspective.

I've needed some perspective lately as we are building toward the crescendo of moving both our residence and the shop in the same month.

Yup.

But, when opportunity knocks you don't squawk about the timing.

  You answer the door and greet the challenge.

And now that the time is coming and it's real...my inner voice is being kind of a jerk.

Doubt is creeping in.

Am I good enough?  Can we do this?  Will we be ready?  What will happen?  Will everything be awesome?  Will it look like amateur hour?  Will we make friends?  Am I worthy?  Am I making a mistake?  How will it be?  

And let us not forget:

People are counting on you, so don't screw this up.

*I know that there are many people that think those are thoughts best kept to myself.  But I'm a regular person with fears and doubts.  I'm not going to hide behind the "I'm a fearless business owner" thing.  Or some asinine idea that I'm perfect, always have the answers and am without flaws. That's not me. I identify with real.  I identify with others that know themselves and are true to that.  I'd much rather be imperfect than boring, after all.*

 Back to my nightly Google vigil.  I found something (that I'm sure a jillion people other than myself are familiar with) that resonated.

I'm paraphrasing it, but basically the idea is this:

A professor stands at a chalkboard in front of a class and wordlessly makes a dot on the chalkboard.

He then asks the class what they see.

In unison, everyone says, "A dot!".

He asks if everyone agrees.  And they do.  Because it's a dot, right?

Duh.

He then asks if they see the classroom, the chalkboard, the person in front of them, the ceiling, the floor....

Simple.  But blew my mind.

I have to see the big picture, not what my jerky inner voice tells me, not what is put right in front of my face, not the distractions, not the doubts, not what someone else wants me to see.  The whole picture.  

Pretty simple, right?

Seeing beyond the dot.

I can get with that.

Here's part of the big picture:

The new shop will be located at 1117 Main Street in the amazingness that is Downtown Sumner, Washington.

Opening weekend is the first weekend in april.

Our hours will be Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 12-4

Typing that just made me smile.  

The picture is getting clearer and I can't wait to see all of you in it!

XO

Mandi