When Life Gives You Lemons...

Life Happens When You Are Out Making Other Plans

You know the saying..."When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, this past year, life has sent me a truckload of lemons. How exactly to make lemonade with that kind of volume has taken me a whole year!

I'm writing about all of this because it does relate to my jewelry making. So, if you will, please hang in there and I will eventually get to that. This story is about running into huge obstacles and how I found a way to work through them. Keep in mind that I had not been seriously ill until these events unfolded. I was a very healthy 58 year-old woman at the time.

And So, The Obstacles Began...

It started the day after Thanksgiving, 2009. I needed surgery for a bowel obstruction. That did not go well and I ended up having 3 stomach surgeries within a 2-week period. During the 3rd surgery, I stopped breathing and had to be put on life support. I was rushed to ICU where I stayed for 16 days before the ventilator could be removed.

As it turned out I had developed ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). This is often fatal, I am told. However, I survived and went on to rehab for physical and occupational therapy. After a few weeks, I was hospitalized for dehydration. No one really seemed to know what was wrong with me, however. During this hospitalization, we discovered that I had a stomach ulcer. I was re-hydrated and, after a couple of weeks, I went home again.

I did not seem to be getting better at home. After seeing my primary care doctor, I was sent straight from the office visit to the ER where I was admitted for malnutrition. During this hospitalization, they discovered that I had blood clots in my leg and upper arm. I was put on intravenous nutrition and sent by ambulance to another hospital. I was admitted to 4 hospitals before this was over!

The day after I was admitted to the 4th hospital, I had several strokes (30 - 40 strokes as estimated by the doctors). The neurologist told my family that there was no hope of recovery. I suffered paralysis on the left side of my body and did sustain some brain damage.

Needless to say, I did survive, proving the doctors wrong, thankfully. Again, I began physical and occupational therapy at home, had in-home nursing care and continued receiving intravenous nutrition at home for 5 months.

Where Does Jewelry-Making Fit In?

My occupational therapist was also a jewelry designer and wanted me to try making jewelry again. I tried several times over a period of months but just struggled with it, not having the fine motor skills to manage mt hand tools or the hand strength to even hold them. Even when I could complete a simple task, there was no joy in it. It was just too hard!

I decided that I would not force myself to make jewelry. I only wanted to do it if it was fun for me, not an obligation. I tried every couple of months during the first year out of the hospital; then after about 9 months, it started feeling like fun again.

One of the things I learned was that my brain turned things around on me. I found that, if my instinct was to wrap wire to the left, it would turn out wrong. So, I tried a silly experiment. I decided that I would do the opposite of what I thought I should do and, guess what? It worked! This one discovery changed jewelry making for me forever!

What's Happening Now?

I have been making jewelry now for about 3 months.  My goal is to make at least one piece per day.  I often can make several pieces per day, though. I guess the moral of the story is that obstacles can often be overcome as long as you don't give up. Next month, I plan to have a jewelry sale, primarily featuring my new post-stroke jewelry collection!   Of course, I'll be serving lots of lemonade along with the jewelry on that day!

Learning About Jewelry Blogging

I've been designing and creating jewelry for a long time but I am just now trying to become more social about the whole business. I like the idea that making jewelry is something I can do when I am alone but I also know that it is really a lot of fun to make jewelry with friends.

Several years ago, before I moved to my current location (Pennsylvania), I used to go to "Craft Night" with several of my close friends. We took turns going to each other's houses for a night of beading fun. There was always good food and lots of laughter. Once I moved, I didn't have the opportunity to bead socially anymore and I became a solitary beader.

This has been my favorite solitary pastime for several years and now I feel the need to reach out for others of like mind. So, here I am, learning to blog!

I have discovered that there is so much to learn beyond making jewelry when it comes to the business of jewelry! One of the things I've discovered that I need to learn is how to create a successful blog. I am just a beginner at this. I've been reading blogs and, as you can see, I'm writing a blog as well. So, if you read this, please leave a comment. I'm anxious to get some readers and I have yet to learn how to do this but I am trying! Keep coming back, I appreciate your beading and blogging experience!

Extend an "Olive Branch" Gift of Jewelry

Have you ever had the experience of apologizing for a mistake yet still felt that nagging feeling that you wanted to make up for it in some tangible way? I've had this experience on several occasions but didn't really find a good way to relieve the feeling until I decided to offer a token of apology by giving a gift of customized jewelry.

To my surprise, the receiver of the gift was rendered speechless by the gesture and immediately reacted by saying "you didn't have to do that!". I had made a pair of earrings for her and wrote her a sincere little note of apology with the intention of leaving it on her desk. To my surprise, she was in her office when I came by. I then explained in person and gave her the earrings.

The goodwill generated by extending this "olive branch" was definitely understood as a token of peace and good feelings. The result was very positive and, clearly, there were no hard feelings left after this interaction. This is just one more positive way to use your jewelry-making skills!

Jewerly Repairs - Embrace the Resistance!

Using the "embrace the resistance" attitude works well when facing jewelry repair projects. Usually, my favorite thing in all the world is to begin a new and creative jewelry project but facing a repair has been quite another story, at least, until now.

In the past, I have used the procrastination approach for repair projects. I put the broken jewelry on a shelf and save up a few broken items until I can bring myself to start working on the needed repairs. In many cases, I am just not sure where to begin with the repair and, sometimes, I don't even look at what is needed until I am ready to begin the work.

I always thought that creating new jewelry was fun and satisfying and that repairing old jewelry was boring and, in fact, not creative. Now I know that this is not true. There is creativity and satisfaction to be found even in this type of jewelry work. I recently came to this conclusion and the benefits I have found are listed here.

Benefit #1 - Satisfaction upon completion

There is satisfaction to be found in finally doing something that you have been putting off. This is true whether the task is cleaning out the garage or repairing a piece of jewelry. The truth is that you will feel some satisfaction when you finally complete that long-awaited task. Procrastination is avoidance and, when you finally face something you have been avoiding, you will feel good about yourself.

Benefit #2 - Creativity

Upon review of the item to be repaired, I have found that I do rely on a creative thought process to figure out the best method of fixing the item. Some repairs are quite challenging and the main thing to be avoided is creating further damage to the jewelry components.

This creative process takes into account my past experience in creating jewelry. I know what works for me and I know which areas have not been the most successful in the past. Being experienced in jewelry design and creation definitely aids me in finding the most successful solution to a problem.

Benefit #3 - Helping Others

In my experience with jewelry repairs, I have found that 99% of the items needing repair are brought to me by other people. In general, most of these repairs are on jewelry that I did not make. So, I am asked to help out and fix things that are created using components and methods that are not my own. This adds its own challenge in that I might not have the same type of component available in my inventory to fix the piece thus requiring some type of improvisation (the creativity benefit comes into play here).

When all is said and done, if I can help someone out by fixing a broken piece of jewelry, it always brings a smile to the owner's face. I always guarantee the jewelry I make, so, if something breaks, I will repair it at no cost to the purchaser. For other jewelry, I usually don't charge a fee for repairs either. I prefer to enjoy the goodwill that is created which is a reward in and of itself. There is also the hope that the owner may someday purchase a piece of my jewelry which would be a future monetary reward. Either way, everybody feels good when the repair is completed!

So, the moral of the story is..."get those repairs done." It will benefit you in ways you didn't imagine!