My Current Joy and Downfall

I received one of my latest frivolous spending item boxes in the mail yesterday. I got a box from Paper Crazed full of little bits of paper that I really don't need, but that I am currently purchasing and then playing with for a long time. I currently subscribe to three different boxes, and I like the one that I received yesterday the best of them all. (I've tried to stop subscribing to one of the boxes, but I got all confused and apparently did not stop it. Ugh. Okay, I've tried unsubscribing again ...we'll see how it works out.) For some reason, two boxes seem fine to get but three seem excessive. Okay.

These boxes have inspired me to turn back into something that I love - making paper crafts. I've designed a couple of new products for my Teachers Pay Teachers store, and I've turned those products into actual file folder activities to use with my students. I've also been making books and tags and notebook holders and fancy decorations and other stuff.

Now, all these things and adventures in subscription boxes and paper crafting are fine and all, especially for self-care, but I am all about functional stuff, and I'm not figuring out how to make most of the things that I am making a bit more functional for me as a music therapist.

My new TPT product - Note Writing Folder Templates
The file folder activities are easy. Make them, use them with clients, and then you're good to go. The function in these types of things are apparent, but the bits that I'm making do not really have much of a function yet. I cannot get away from the idea that everything that I do has to have a home - a person, a function, a reason for making it and then using it either for someone I know or for my clients. I bet this has something to do with my tendency to hoard things. I want to make it, enjoy the making, and then shoo it onto a new home where someone else can figure out the function of it all.

Why is it so difficult for me to just enjoy the process of making things? This is a question that I really ponder on a regular basis. It is part of the guilt that I have about things like this - can I really take the time to make something when I should be focusing on something like, I don't know, music therapy?? (Goblin!) The fact is that I don't need to justify my time engaged in things like paper crafting. It is something that I enjoy and that I am good at, so I get to do it. I just have to keep telling myself this fact and believe it - it is something I just get to do - no "First this THEN that" stipulations. (But I am still looking for functionality...)

Is anybody interested in getting any of the things that I seem to need to make these days? I've got some traveler's notebooks, some small composition books that are decorated really nicely, some large composition books with fancy covers, junk journals, and lots of file folder ideas that I'd love to send out into the world so others can use them...

...and why not share the joy with other music therapists. Hey - if you know of a music therapy colleague who could use a small pick-me-up or a representation of the fact that others care about them, you could tell me in the comments below. I promise I will not publish any comment that reveals any personal information. I'll take nominations for music therapists who could use a bit of happy mail. (I even have a logo designed for this type of thing!!)

Thanks for reading - my paper and cutters and tape runners and things are beckoning to me from across the room. It is time to make something else - I don't know what it will be, but it will be something...

Remember, let me know your music therapy nominations in the comment box below. I'll send stuff to the folks you mention at no cost to you! Thanks.

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