Growing up the way I did I have always had a hard time knowing my self-worth, and tend to do things "on the house", to not have drama, to keep something or someone. My amazing hubby has taught me how to value myself and my work over the past 22 years; I really thought I was doing good with this until recently when I "did the math" and boy it did not add up.
Doing graphics work is something I have always loved because I love doing anything where I get to tap into my creativity and create something magical. A while back a colleague told me I should start charging for my work, I thought about it and decided since I have had to put my doula work on hold for the foreseeable future I'd give it a shot. I started doing research to figure out how I should price myself and realized that I had been cheating myself for a while and that had to change.
So I had to make some major changes in how I value myself and my work, in doing this I had to step away from something I love and truly miss every day; unfortunately, or fortunately, after some time away I can see now how much I undervalued myself, and it is a painful lesson learned.
My takeaway from this lesson is people can pile on the praise all day long and that is really great, everyone likes to hear how good they are doing, but praise doesn't keep the lights on.
All that being said, I love what I do, I'm proud of my work, both past and present and I hope to one day not be sad about the choices I made in putting value on myself and my skills.
Never under value yourself...
You are not just enough, you are more than enough, you just have to realize it.
Blessings
Ashley
Pricing our creativity--time, effort, emotional expense--is always hard. Sharing what we make with others feels good. But like your words suggest, it doesn't pay the bills. It's all about balance.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, balance is a must for me going forward.
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