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Oct 18, 2023Liked by Jen Zug, findingbeautyseattle

When I arrived in Seattle in 2017 as a fresh start, Sara’s Constellation & Co was an oasis for a stationery addict! I had so much fun following Sara’s journey as a business owner, especially when she branched out to make more art, draw public park illustrations, and more! It’s 2022 when I realized the mailman that lives next door to us used to service her store at Fisherman Terminal. It made me feel a bit giddy knowing how snail mail is a huge part of her creativity! I look forward to following her next adventure 🥰

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Thanks for these kind words, April!

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Oct 18, 2023Liked by Jen Zug, findingbeautyseattle

So timely for me today. I’m in full blown what-am-I-doing-with-my-life mode, and these are wise words. Thanks to you and Sara.

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We're all just figuring it out! <3

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Oct 18, 2023Liked by Jen Zug, findingbeautyseattle

Ooohhh as someone who is currently dreaming about starting a small business and in the “I know nothing.” phase, this was encouraging to read.

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It's a severely underrated place to be! What a gift to be able to say "I don't know what I don't know" and pick up one little nugget of knowledge at a time!

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Oct 19, 2023Liked by Jen Zug, findingbeautyseattle

It's so hard to reframe something you feel so deeply failure. I've been working on that a lot myself these days. Constellation & Co was (and still is) a beautiful project and your passion for it was so clear. I remember visiting the Cherry Street studio and making a print during an artwalk maybe the first month I moved to Seattle. The history of your work there still brings beauty to many people's homes and lives. The thing I find myself saying in my encaustic workshops often are the things I need to hear myself in life...don't hold on so tight to something precious in your work that you can't move forward. Loss is part of the process--the layers you love most will sometimes get obscured. The history counts, even if you scrape layers off to take a look at something buried in an earlier layer and look at it in a new way.

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Thanks for bearing witness to some of those layers. I have days that it feels like it was all just a dream.

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Oct 19, 2023Liked by Jen Zug, findingbeautyseattle

The line about people wanting to pole vault over the hard stuff hit deep. There’s a lot of people that need to read that paragraph, and it’s one I wish I’d seen about 3 years ago!

Also: huge +1 to the therapeutic value of lighthouses.

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Picture me in a coffee shop, writing, across from a friend, trying to describe pole vaulting to her because I couldn't remember what it's called...

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Wow, this post really resonated with me! Thank you so much, Sara and Jen!

For a while after I started, I had felt that the best thing I ever did was to turn my hobby into a business. When that then (only with hindsight) became the worst thing, the next best thing I ever did was to give up my business. The journey was amazing and I had learned so much about myself.

I wrote about this journey last summer, when I was thinking of dipping a toe back in to the hobby. As it happens, I haven't yet - but by golly I will one day.

https://rebeccaholden.substack.com/p/21-reigniting-the-flame

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Thanks for sharing this post! So much great food for thought! 💜

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