Why am I such a wimp?

This has nothing to do with crafting but I just needed to jot this down somewhere. Bear with me if you please.

Yesterday, I was on the bus home and it was not that packed, but not that empty either.

(I was sitting behind the left-side priority seating area.)

The right-side priority seating area was occupied by a little old lady, a big man dressed in black and some other passengers. The left-side priority seating area was occupied by a young lady obsessed with her smartphone (with 2 empty seats beside her), and an elderly couple.

The priority-seating areas bus looks something like this (for those who want a better visualiazation):

O          A          O
O           I          O
O          S          O
O O      L          O
O O      E      O O

A woman with a stroller struggled to get on, and by the time she was on the bus, NOBODY got up from the priority seating areas to let her "park" her stroller. So, she stopped right in the aisle (with all the said people sitting down too busy looking at their devices).

The bus driver proceeded to tell her she can't block the aisle, so she struggled to manoeuvre the stroller into the (small) two-empty-seat area (left side of the bus) beside the lady with her phone. This phone lady did not look up until the stroller obviously distracted her during its attempt to fit in the small space.

The phone lady looked up (with a somewhat bewildered look) and said, "Would it helped if I got up?" The stroller lady (who was already losing patience) answered with a fast and harsh reply, "YES." The stroller got into place and the phone lady moved to an empty seat beside the man dressed in black (YES, STILL IN THE PRIORITY SEATING AREA). The elderly couple remained seated but the helped the lady to get her stroller in place.

A few stops later, the little old lady moved to another seat, but the big man and phone lady remained in that row of priority seats. Another lady with a stroller proceeded to get on. This one would  mean it would have to go on the right side, which was now half occupied by the man in black and the phone lady. While this new stroller lady struggled to push up the folding seats to make room for the stroller, the man in black did not even flinch or look up from his phone, and nobody budged from their seats.

Neither did the driver, in both cases, make an announcement to ask people to give up their courtesy seats or make room for the strollers. He was in a hurry and even drove off quickly without making sure the old lady was seated and the stroller brakes were on.

The woman managed to get her stroller in place, and she shot the man a dirty look as she took a seat.

As I got up from my seat to get off the bus, I turned back and was appalled to see that the back half of the bus was half EMPTY. I felt truly disappointed by all the people who contributed to this selfish bus ride, myself included.

Before you say anything about the pot calling the kettle black, I am not writing this post to shoot down these passengers who did not lift a finger to help the ladies with their strollers, nor am I saying the driver was wrong not to have told off passengers for not giving up the seats.

I am questioning my inability to be assertive in this kind of social situations. I have witnessed many of these situations where people would not hesitate to help or tell off others who were not doing the right things.

Why couldn't I have told off all the people who refused to give up their seats?
Why couldn't I have gone forward to help the lady with the folding seats?
Why didn't I get up from my seat to move to the back of the bus?

WHY CAN'T I BE ASSERTIVE WHEN THE NEED ARISES?

Why am I such a wimp?

I really wished I could have done something constructive on that bus. I really wish I have the courage to speak up and tell off strangers when these things happen. Maybe I'm just afraid of getting told off by even more assertive people.

Over all, with that aside, the more important question is:

WHY ARE PEOPLE SO OBSESSED WITH THEIR SMARTPHONES NOWADAYS?

Now, that's the most puzzling question of all.

Nikki

Life is full of imperfections...

I think this place has become my peaceful corner to reflect on thoughts.. Just scrolling through my (not-very-many) past posts, one post caught my eye -- "Resin hates me."

That was nearly half a year ago! In these six months, I have had lots of practice with resin crafting. I must admit, it is quite a difficult craft and it does take a lot of detail and careful work. Even if you spend all your time looking at it, trying to prevent any dust particles from landing on your piece, there are still bound to be imperfections no matter how much you try.

With every resin piece I make, I learn something new.

I learned that you should never dome the sides with resin.
I learned that you should dome with runny resin, not wait till it's all thick. 
I learned that you should wait for the resin to thicken before adding glitter spangles. 
I learned that the background coloured layer should not be too thick. 
I learned that pieces cannot be too thin. 
I learned that drilling screw eyes can ruin your entire piece. 
I learned that toothpicks work best for me when doming.
I learned that you can make resin runny again with warm water.
I learned that bails sink into resin very easily.
I learned that bubbles appear in spots you cannot see until the piece is finished.

My lessons with resin never end. Yet, I learn from these lessons. I don't call them mistakes, I call them experiences.

I used to be a perfectionist, wanting everything to go my way. I wanted all the rainbows without the rain. But now, I actually find it overrated. Life is just like my journey with resin crafting. Things get into your way no matter how hard you try to avoid them.

I no longer find myself wanting to be a perfectionist.

Sure, I can strive to be one, but if I toss away a piece that I made just because it has a speck of dust or an unsightly air bubble, I would end up zero "perfect" pieces.

If I were to toss away every moment of my life that has imperfections, what would I end up with? I wouldn't have an enriching life to look back on when I am old.

Why be a perfectionist? Just go with the flow and embrace your not-so-ideal experiences (mistakes and failures if you will). Life is too short to be seeking for perfection.

~ Nikki

A Sudden Realization

Looks like I've forgotten about this space for a little while! I'm back with an interesting topic that I've been pondering about for some time.

Don't you love the feeling when you have tons of ideas and make endless clay charms for days on end? And you think, whoa, I made so many charms! I'm so productive! Yup, I am like that sometimes.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are days where you just don't feel like doing ANYTHING. The last thing you want to do is think of original charm ideas (which won't come to you no matter how hard you crack your brains). You just want to curl up in bed, watch TV all day long, eat, go out and play, enjoy the beautiful sunshine of summer... The list goes on. I know I certainly have been doing that this summer (except the sleeping part) :D

I've come to realize that we all go through ruts or slumps when it comes to crafting, some of them longer than we would like. It may also be stressful for us Youtubers to churn out videos to our lovely subscribers on top of our everyday lives. (Yes, we have ordinary lives just like any other human being!)

But yesterday I also thought of something else. Why force yourself to make things when you don't have any ideas? I myself have been in a "clay rut" for the past month or so, never feeling the urge to make charms as I did before.

On the other hand, over the past few months, I did made some quality charms that I am pretty happy with. I really think it's worth the time and effort to produce something that you personally like than to make things just for the sake of making them. Remember, quality over quantity any day!

For all my friends in the crafting community, don't strive to please others. Do what you think will make you happy. If you are not in the mood to make clay charms, do something else! I sure have been doing loads of resin lately :D

After reaching this important point in the self-discovery journey, my mind suddenly exploded with charm ideas! I had to scramble for pen and paper to jot them all down! Most of them were inspired by other amazing videos I recently saw on Youtube, but that is still something!

I hope this blog post has inspired you in some way or another! :)

Happy crafting!
♥ Nikki