I was 2 years fresh (well it seemed fresh) off the plane from teaching in South Korea, many “wasted” college courses later, oh yea and now I lived with my grandparents again, before I started my business. You thought I was going to say, “before I became a millionaire from making hand-crafted accessories…” Yeaaaaa, no. Still working on that, not really, but I’ll come back to that point later. Back to the melancholy…

I was broken (emotionally and financially) and a little socially also. I felt like I was just getting by. I was approaching age 30 and I was so unsure of myself and what I wanted in life. I was working of my teaching certification, working as an after-school care lead teacher and I was doing well, on paper anyway. But that matters, RIGHT??? It will all look good on my resume is what I told myself… I just was not getting the fulfillment I desired from the path I was walking. I did learn a lot along the way, but those details are meticulous and good for a night of a good movie, some wine and peach cobbler to talk through.

I desired more from myself, from my experiences. I knew that a change was needed. I’ve been employed 35 times from 2003 to 2020. The longest job I had was as a retail sales associate, for 4 years.

Well that’s what ships do right, they sail and I was tired of selling my self short (yes pun intended, because I just noticed it as I was typing). I started with teaching myself how to crochet a basic scarf and hat and then a blanket. I am not a master of crocheting, but it soothes my anxiety that is for sure. Then I started creating resin jewelry and let me just say always use a mask and gloves, then I started making journals and different paper organization systems, duh because I was a student/teacher and I needed to stay organized to be successful and mainly because I am completely obsessed with paper and office supplies.

I began all of these hobbies to help me deal with stress, anxiety and depression. I was just looking for a safe outlet…

Then I was encouraged when some close friends expressed that they wanted my creations, and not just wanted them, would pay money for them. WOW! That is when I became more serious about the quality of my work. I named my business M.in.T Collection, which stands for Moments in Time. I was building and collecting moments to feeling better, to healing, to having a better perspective of my life. Mint Collection was birthed in 2016 and I didn’t officially launch my business until 2018…. the only reason I didn’t launch earlier is because of fear of judgement, fear of not having all of the tools and resources and knowledge and mainly fear of failure.

Even when I launched my YouTube Channel in 2018 as Mint Collection publicly, I was so nervous. I enjoyed doing crafts and learning knew craft ideas and the art and challenge of making, recording, and editing the video footage and having my own little show was exciting. I admit I thought (naively so) that my channel would be an instant hit and hundreds of people would flock to my videos and be cheering me on to produce more content, but that was not so. The reality was this, and always will be this, you must do what you love because you love it, not for monetary gain or popularity. Do what you love and those that love what you love will find you. Yes, I am referencing the movie “Field of Dreams” line that says, “if you build it, they will come” and yes I whispered it while I was typing it. If they don’t come, learn to be completely and joyfully satisfied with being the only one to love and appreciate your creation and the journey it took to create what ever your “it” is.

This blog is getting long and since it is my first blog that I have written, and because I am not sure how these things are “suppose” to be written and I am pretty sure I have many grammatical errors and I am sure this sentence is one, because it feels like a run-on sentence, with too many commas, I will end this blog here, unless I come back and change or add something (because that’s my business, in my Tabitha voice) I will end with a cliche,

Keep believing in yourself, Keep striving, Keep failing, Keep learning, Keep growing, just Keep going!!