What am I doing here?!

So, I don't have any talents. I know my friends and family are going to argue with me on this one. "You are a wonderful person!"  "But you're such a great mom!"  "You're a great teacher!"  "You read really fast!" That's great and all, but that's not what I mean by a TALENT. For example, my brother plays the guitar. My other brother is a community organizer. My husband can make just about anything. My mom is a fantastic cook. You get the picture now? (And no, I don't really consider teaching a talent. It's a career that I was trained for.)

I'm kind of a jack of all trades, master of none. I've tried just about every hobby there is, but managed to self-sabotage myself every time. I tried dance as a kid, but got bored with practicing. I did theatre for a while, but after getting progressively worse roles with each play I did, I figured it wasn't really my gift. Sports, you ask? Unless benchwarming is a sport, I'm going to have to say no. Musical ability? Tried it, but couldn't read music to save my life. I enjoy writing, and do it fairly well, so I tried writing a novel when I was 15, but lost interest because I figured no one would ever read it. A few years ago, I thought of an awesome product to invent, but decided I would never get the financial backing needed to produce it, so I let it slide. Karate, Archery, Stained Glass...been there, done that. Some things I picked up better than others, and do fine at, but never really stuck with them. I find that I really like doing creative things, but I don't really do any of them really well. I can cook, bake, do DIY projects, decorate my house, adequately, but I wouldn't say I do them well enough to be considered a talent.

So as a busy mom, wife, 2nd grade teacher, friend, sister, daughter, etc. I don't have a whole lot of time for myself. It's hard to put myself first when there are so many others who need my time and energy. Over the past few years I've been more in touch with myself; who I am and who I want to be. Part of that process is making the time to do things that I enjoy and feeling good about the person that I am and that I am becoming. I find that craft projects can be a good way to give me that time, and make me feel a sense of accomplishment, while benefiting my family in some way.

Recently, I was exposed to the wonders of Etsy, Pinterest, and all the related bloggers out there that post their amazing projects and creations. It's so fun to admire their creativity and creations. I found that it inspired me to expand on my creativity and my experience from dabbling in so many hobbies. So in the last few months I've began trying to recreate projects I found online, and sometimes using the ideas in new ways that work for me. I started thinking that it all makes sense, because creativity is something I have loads of. I just never really took the time to develop it or stick with anything, because deep down I probably thought I couldn't do it.

All my life I've been sabotoging my attempts to find a talent by giving up too easily. It's time to have a little faith in myself and stick with it. So my goal for the new year, 2012, is to attempt at least one creative project per week by attempting to recreate projects I found online, or (gasp!) that I actually came up with myself. My blog is to keep track of these projects and give me yet another creative outlet. I am excited to see if I will really develop a talent by the end of the year, but regardless, the journey should be interesting. Stay tuned!