Swimming Against the Tide

I don't know if it's a personality disorder, or if it is a trait that develops from being the youngest in a big family, but I am rebellious. My piano teachers couldn't teach me correct hand positions. My hands never wanted to be restricted. This is also why I am not a typist. Grounding me, as a punishment, was not very effective because I quickly learned how to remove window screens and find my way to my friend's house. I hate reading instructions. I put things together and then look at the instructions to figure out why my results don't resemble the picture on the box. And the best way to get my creative dander up is to tell me "this is the way it has always been done." Or "this is the way everyone else does it."

It shouldn't be a surprise that I approach jewelry design with the same attitude. When I got the go ahead to place my jewelry at the Quilted Bear for my first foray into retail, I was told that other jewelry vendors were having great success with chunky beaded interchangeable watch bands, my first reaction wasn't "Oh boy, I'll go make up a bunch of watch bands." My first reaction was "how boring is that?".

Unfortunately (I think it's unfortunate), the desire to have the same things that other people have, dress the same way that other people dress, do the same things that other people do, is more prevalent than the internal drive to be ORIGINAL, UNIQUE, DIFFERENT, SPECIAL! From my early days, the beat of my internal drum has lead me down interesting paths, to meet unforgettable people, and to create things that seem to spark that internal beat in those other rebellious spirits that want to swim against the tide of conformity and celebrate all things inherently precious!