How to Keep Creating When Life is Full

Val Frania:

Hello, this is Val Frania and you are listening to Flipping Furniture for Profit. I want to give a quick shout out to someone before we get going. I got a message from someone letting me know they'd been listening to my podcast. So here's your shout out, Karen. She says, "Hi Val, I've been praying, listening, and your podcast appeared after doing a search in Spotify. I don't know which one it was, but it spoke to me at my core. It contains several Scriptures, and you applied them to how one should go about flipping furniture. After listening to it, I had to scroll down to your first podcast and start there, so I'm sure I'll run across it again. I want you to know that you were exactly what I needed at this time in my life."

Thank you Karen, for reaching out. Please feel free to message me. I always want to add friends to my list of furniture flippers. This is episode twenty seven, "How To Keep Creating When Life is Full." If you've ever wondered how some people manage to get things done when their lives already feel completely full, I want to talk about that today, because all of our lives are full, jam packed, actually.

Somewhere along the way, we bought into that lie that every minute must be filled, or we risk being labeled lazy, unproductive, or not living up to our potential. So we make lists, we add more. We fill gaps. We try harder. We serve more. We excel. And this pressure hits women especially hard. There's this unspoken comparison that creeps in. "She's doing more than I am. She's more disciplined, more creative, more accomplished." It becomes what I call the "I've got to do it all syndrome" in that mindset. That's one of the biggest reasons beginners feel overwhelmed. Just ask someone that's very experienced in furniture flipping. They'll tell you they've gone through it too.

I'll be honest, I've struggled with this myself. There have been days when I've taken time off and actually told my husband, "I'm such a lazy person," and without fail, of course, he always comes back with, "My dear, you are the busiest and most productive person I know." Well, if you don't have someone like that in your corner. Oh boy, it's much tougher. Yeah, even after he says that, I still needed convincing. A couple years ago, I realized I needed to step back and actually see what I was doing instead of just feeling like I was never doing enough. So I bought this little book. It's a simple one liner notebook that you can write in for five years. You date it, and then you write just a simple line. Nothing fancy. One line per day.

At first, I used it to record what I accomplished in my business. Then it kind of morphed into writing down anything meaningful, something I moved forward, something that mattered in my family that I had done, something I completed. I honestly needed proof that I wasn't lazy. After about two and a half years, I finally put that notebook away. Not because I stopped being productive, but because I no longer needed convincing. I wasn't failing. I just wasn't giving myself enough credit. That pressure that we feel, it's not accidental.

It's the world we live in. Everyone else looks prettier, younger, skinnier, smarter, more creative, more accomplished. And at some point we have to step back and remember this truth. As long as we're living in God's will and honoring him, what we do is enough. We are enough. Ecclesiastes twelve thirteen says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." That verse grounds me. And here's the thing... Using our creativity isn't frivolous. Sometimes we think that if we're enjoying doing something, that it's not work. But, you know, it doesn't feel like it, does it? When we're actually enjoying what we're doing.

That's one thing I love about our niche. Our work is actually our play. And if it brings you joy, if it lifts your mood, if it helps you see your value and the beauty God has given you to use for His glory and for your family, then of course it matters. Some of your best days include furniture flipping, doesn't it? I know it is for me. Using our God given creativity is definitely a mood lifter. It helps us feel capable. It helps us bring beauty into our homes and even into the lives of others. So instead of asking, "How do I find hours to flip furniture?" I start asking, "How do I let this fit naturally into my already full life?" If you know my story, you know my life has been full for many, many years. Between the amount of kids we had and the ministry we were working in and all the things that come with teaching full time, serving in a church. Our life has been full ever since I remember.

My simple method - you can start without feeling overwhelmed. This is how I start every project and it only takes a few minutes every day. First, I decide which piece I'm going to work on. I don't worry about finishing it or how I'm going to redesign it. I don't worry about the whole plan. I simply move it into my workshop and put it right on top of my drop cloth. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do with it. I more often than not, I really don't. And if I don't, I just wait till it speaks to me. But here's the key. I put it where I can see it. I pass by it when I do my laundry, when I grab something from the basement pantry. Basically when I move through my day, because when I see it, often it stays in my mind and ideas flow naturally without pressure. That alone moves the project forward. Then the next day I evaluate what needs fixing. Sometimes I lay out what I need, you know, like either repair tools or the primer and brushes, depending on the project. Sometimes I just let DH know what's next and see if he can handle the repairs. We decide the next step. Not all the steps. If he's doing repairs, the piece goes to the garage. If I'm doing them, I might clean it one day, sand it the next depending on my time. And then I decide whether I'm priming another day and pull out everything I need. Once a piece is primed, this is where people think they need blocks, Big blocks of time, but you really don't.

After priming, sometimes it just goes right into the room where my pieces are waiting. And then maybe I'll pick something else out that's primed and start working on that. I decide on color. I'll lay out my paint and tools ahead of time, and they'll just sit there until I can get to it. Sometimes when I'm super busy, I just apply one coat that day, then the next day another coat. When it's time for polly, I'll do the same thing. Maybe one coat a day, maybe a couple. Ten to fifteen minutes, tops. That's it. None of this requires many hours in one day. It just requires showing up consistently for a few minutes.

Now, here's some little tricks that keep me moving. You know, real life. I work in the basement. When I'm busy, but want to get the painting done in one day, and I have a plan, you know, you got to plan out dry time. It's usually about two hours in between coats. I've learned to design my environment to help me remember. Sometimes I'll just leave the light on at the top of the stairs so I can see it through the cracks in the door. A quiet reminder that there's a project waiting. Sometimes I'll tell Alexa, "Remind me in two hours to add another coat." Sometimes the reminder's to turn off the portable heater before bed. You know we're not robots. We don't need to work every minute of the day.

Creativity thrives with awareness and intention, not pressure. Now here's a funny example of how we overcomplicate things. For the longest time, I put off painting. I would procrastinate because I thought I had to change into quote unquote "paint clothes." That alone was enough to make me put it off. I even tried one of those lightweight paint suits, ones you know, that you get from Amazon. Oh, that was worse. More hassle, more work. So eventually I decided to try something radical. I just paint. I just paint carefully. I watch how I move around the piece. If I get paint on my shirt, I scrub it right there in the workshop sink and put it back on. And when I come upstairs, I turn around as my husband inspects me for paint splatters like I'm going through security clearance. Funny thing is, he did the exact same thing this afternoon after priming in the garage. Believe it or not, I even paint in my church clothes sometimes.

What I learned is this - if I take a few minutes to accomplish something, the project moves along faster than if I wait for perfect conditions, because you'll never get perfect conditions. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes I spend an entire evening in my workshop. Music turned up, completely in the zone. I do love those days. But life doesn't give me many of them, so I improvise. I figure it out because it matters to me. And I often remind my husband that, you know, I call him DH, that our quote unquote "hobby" is different than hunting, hiking, skiing, fishing. That other people do. Those things cost big money, don't they? Our "hobby," OURS makes money. Of course, it's a full on business, but it's so fun that it feels like a hobby, doesn't it? And what a gift it is to look forward to something every day, that both makes me happy AND helps us financially.

We do need balance, obviously. You know, everything in our life demands our time. But if we learn to balance, then our lives are going to be so much greater. Recently, I stepped back from furniture for a season because I was reworking my online business learning, planning, building better ways to serve current and future Furniture Flipping Blueprint members. I call it FFB. That season required a lot of time and mental energy. I picked up my MAC every day instead of a paintbrush, but once I started getting traction in my new plan, I naturally returned to my furniture, listing pieces that have been waiting, starting new projects, working creatively again. That balance? It was life giving. I didn't abandon my furniture. I just shifted seasons momentarily. And when I returned, I had the excitement of a clear business plan and the joy of creativity again. That's exactly why I'm working on beginner training right now.

I've watched so many brand new flippers struggle not because they lack motivation, but because they're overwhelmed by too many decisions and no clear path. It's not about shortcuts. It's about simplicity. And seeing your way clear to the path that works for you. Too often, you know people will start to flip and they go about it with gusto. So fun. And then, Bam! They get hit with an issue, a problem, something they don't know how to do. Discouragement from conversations online, comparing themselves.

You know, never compare yourself at your beginning by someone that's in the middle or toward the end. They have experience. You don't. You cannot compare. It's all about helping you keeping going without burning out. That's my goal. I want to help you move along without the discouragement. Everyone needs encouragement and that is my goal. So if you're feeling overwhelmed right now, hear this clearly. Overwhelm is not a character flaw. It's just a sign that something needs simplifying. You don't need more time. You need fewer decisions. You don't need perfect conditions. You need permission. Using your creativity matters. Little steps matter. I think I've mentioned this before, but back when I was teaching full time in our church school, plus I was doing a thousand other things in the church. DH was assistant to the pastor, so a lot of stuff fell on us, which I truly enjoyed it. But man, I was uber busy and I remember feeling really behind and discouraged, and I went and talked to my principal and told him, man, I was just so burned out, so overwhelmed. And he gave me two words that really blew my mind coming from the principal, no less. He said, "Do less." And that really hit me. He gave me permission. I should have given myself permission, but he gave me permission to slow down and start getting rid of the fluff. Get rid of the extra stuff I didn't need to do.

Slow down. Decide my priorities and to start enjoying life again. Little steps matter like that. Faithful progress matters. And when you plan, when your plan honors your real life, persistence becomes possible. That's how you keep going. Even when life is full. You have a great rest of your week. I know I will. And happy painting. God bless.