You know that moment in the creative process when you have all the tools necessary to succeed and then you realize this means you no longer have reasons for failure? This is the “Oh Shit” moment I arrived at after I settled into bed thrilled at having accomplished the final steps in creating my jewelry shop.

For months since finishing classes my Dad and I have been working on building a studio in a small room in our basement. I cleaned the room out and had two good friends build a jeweler’s bench. Dad began to measure and design a workbench for the rest of my tools. Then we shopped and sawed and hammered and screwed and glued our way slowly to a kind of sort of finished studio. In our way was Christmas, me only being able to use one arm as I damaged the nerve in my right elbow while cleaning out the basement room and have been in and out of a sling ever since, and my dad having some health issues.

Today a good friend came over to help me fill my tanks and test my torch and he stayed to help my dad finish the studio. We all worked many, many, hours and finally, around 7:00 p.m. we finished. I final carriage bolt went through the final bracket mounting the final tool to the workbenches. I swept everything clean and got all my stuff put away. The end result:

Then I brewed a cup of tea and settled in to watch The Beginning of Everything and I realized with a start that I could get up tomorrow and start making jewelry. Suddenly I realized:

No more reasons not to succeed! It’s time to make something real out of this idea. It feels like writing used to, staring at the blank white page and wondering weather you ever actually knew any words or if you have simply been uttering gibberish for your entire life.

Making dreams reality is scary stuff.