Working Hard, or Hardly Working?

Pictured: Baxter, our oldest cat, snoozing away in his rocking chair. 

Stationery and I have had a casual flirtation that has bordered on the "will-they, won't-they" phase for almost a decade. My first love was a Pilot Metropolitan Medium nib that I got in 2016. I loved the look of the glossy Pilot cartridge ink on paper, and I loved writing with it. A new hobby in stationery and pen collecting was born! It's been slow-going as I have accumulated pens and paper over the years and learned more about this world piece by piece. As time wore on, my love was shelved for a while in favor of hobbies I could perform on my morning commute without getting train-sick (🙃). But, my passion for stationery was reignited in the last year as I've sent letters to relatives of mine and found great joy in the creative process of customizing or making my own stationery. I've also been inspired by the passion of this industry and the heartwarming people who participate in it regularly. As my relationship with this hobby and its extensions has bloomed, I've realized that it's time that stationery and I got serious. 

Part of that is also that I've always had this romantic - potentially weird - notion of owning a small business in my hobby spaces. My grandfathers on both sides of the family owned hauling companies, and my father has put his heart and soul into his own machinery services work. Although we sometimes don't see eye to eye, I have a strong admiration for the work they've put in and the companies that have blossomed from their efforts. I've certainly considered having a retail business in the past, but always felt it wasn't the right time. Now having worked in the tech industry for quite a number of years, I've found that one thing I have sorely lacked is regular connection with people and personal fulfillment in my work. While talking over these woes with a friend, that same question I've been asking myself all these years came up - "why don't you just start your own business?", and I found the long-replied answer of "it's not the right time" no longer felt correct. 

So am I working hard, or hardly working? 

The truth is - when you love what you're doing, you never work a day in your life. :)