You’re making a difference even if you’re not making money.

{First of all – THANK YOU for responding to my "What do you enjoy reading about the most on my blog?" survey! I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know how you feel. If you missed it, you can still share your thoughts with me here :)}

I recently posted this video on Instagram and it resonated with a lot of people.

You are making a difference even if you are not making $

I often get anxious when I'm doing things that are not actively paying the bills, like gardening, making food from scratch, and taking my mini sabbaticals every 7 weeks.

I could decide to let them go so I can spend more time on growing my creative business (and I almost did give up on gardening a couple of years ago). We only have 24 hours a day, and if we wanted to create time for something important, you just need to say no to other things.

But really, I often get my creative inspirations from doing things like gardening and cooking healthy meals from scratch.

Gardening gets me in touch with the seasons and nature. It also gets me outside of our house regularly. I'm a homebody and would stay home for as long as I care to admit if I let myself😀

I also feel empowered knowing that we're able to meet at least a tiny portion of our basic needs ourselves.

Eat a Rainbow, watercolors & pen on paper.

Making food from scratch might take longer and could actually be more expensive than buying prepared or processed food, but it also helps me feel good in my body and mind.

Cooking is a very hands-on creative activity with an immediate reward (well, most of the time anyway) and gives me a break from a lot of thinking and computer work, too.

This beet walnut hummus recipe is not only tasty and healthy, but it's beautiful!

I also feel annoyed by other household chores, like cleaning and grocery shopping, but if they don't happen, my working environment wouldn't feel as good and productive.

Yes, as a creative business owner, I need to be making money and maintain a strong focus to achieve that goal.

I constantly think about how to create a life where I still enjoy the craft and have a sustainable business doing what I love. I need my life to be meaningful and joyful so I can continue creating work that brings others joy❤

These other things, though they don't seem to be directly helping me bring in the big paycheck, are part of what keeps my creative reservoir filled. And it's my professional obligation as a working artist to do so.

If you ever felt guilty for taking the time out of your day to attend to "other" needs, think of how those activities are helping you to stay well-rounded so you can focus on your goals.

Remember, your creations have values. It makes people happy and feel warm and fuzzy. It makes them laugh out loud. It makes them think or cry. People are moved by what you create. It's truly magical!

Keep putting yourself out there even if you don't feel it's making a difference today. Believe me, you're making a difference by doing what you do!

xo Yuko

Source: You're making a difference even if you're not making money.