Staying Positive When You Really Don't Feel Like It

Some days, staying positive feels easy.

The studio is busy, the phone rings, workshop bookings arrive, customers pop in for a chat and perhaps leave with a bag full of fabric. Those are the days that remind us why we do what we do.

Then there are the other days.

Days when you arrive full of optimism because you've planned something special. Perhaps you've organised a sale, spent time creating social media posts, written newsletters and shared updates far and wide. You open the door expecting at least a few visitors.

And then nobody comes.

As small business owners, artists and makers, we don't often talk about those days. The quiet days. The disappointing days. The days when you begin questioning every decision you've made.

This week I've found myself reflecting on just how much resilience running a creative business requires.

There have been book proposals rejected after hours of work and excitement. There have been fairs where sales simply didn't happen despite the preparation, packing, travelling and long hours. Workshop bookings have been slower than hoped. People ask for classes and courses, tell you what they would love to learn, and then when those workshops are created, nobody books.

Perhaps the hardest part isn't the lack of sales or bookings.

It's the silence.

The people who book and don't turn up. The messages that go unanswered. The courtesy that seems to have disappeared somewhere along the way. A simple message saying "I'm sorry, I can't make it" takes seconds, yet increasingly it doesn't happen.

It's easy to take these things personally.

It's easy to convince yourself that your work isn't good enough, your ideas aren't interesting enough or that somehow you've got it all wrong.

But experience tells me something different.

Most of the time, these setbacks aren't really about us at all.

People are busy. Life gets in the way. Priorities change. Money is tight. Diaries become overloaded. Circumstances shift without warning.

The challenge is not allowing other people's decisions to determine our own sense of worth.

Because the reality is that tomorrow could be completely different.

One customer could walk through the door and make your day.

One workshop could suddenly fill.

One opportunity could appear from nowhere.

One email could change everything.

What Does Staying Positive Actually Mean?

I think there is a misconception that positive people wake up every morning full of enthusiasm, confidence and energy.

The truth is often quite different.

Staying positive doesn't mean pretending everything is wonderful when it clearly isn't. It doesn't mean ignoring disappointment or putting on a brave face for the sake of appearances. It certainly doesn't mean never feeling frustrated, upset or discouraged.

Positivity is not about denying reality.

It's about choosing how we respond to it.

There are days when nothing seems to go right. Days when the shop is quiet, the bookings don't arrive, the ideas you've worked hard on don't receive the response you hoped for. On those days it can be tempting to look at all the evidence in front of you and conclude that things are failing.

But a single day is not the whole story.

Neither is a single fair, a rejected proposal, a quiet workshop or a disappointing month.

When we are feeling low, our minds have a habit of gathering together every negative thing that has happened and presenting it as proof that nothing is working. We forget the successful workshops, the lovely customer comments, the people who travel miles to attend classes, the projects that have brought us joy and the friendships that have grown through creativity.

We focus on the one thing that didn't work instead of the many things that did.

Positivity is the decision to remember the bigger picture.

For me, that means reminding myself why I started in the first place.

I didn't open a creative studio because I thought every day would be easy. I opened it because I believe creativity matters. I believe people need places where they can learn, experiment, make mistakes and discover new skills. I believe there is value in taking a piece of fabric, a needle, a thread or a seemingly ordinary material and transforming it into something meaningful.

Those things remain true whether one person walks through the door or twenty.

The creative life has always required resilience. Artists, makers, writers and musicians have faced rejection for centuries. Every successful creative person has a collection of disappointments tucked away somewhere. The difference is that they carried on.

They created the next piece.

Submitted the next proposal.

Planned the next workshop.

Opened the door again the following morning.

Sometimes positivity is nothing more glamorous than refusing to give up.

It is choosing to keep moving forward when standing still would feel easier.

It is trusting that the seeds planted today may not bloom tomorrow, but they are still growing beneath the surface.

It is believing that effort matters, even when the results are not immediately visible.

Running a creative business is a little like gardening. You can prepare the ground, plant the seeds, water them carefully and do everything right. Yet nothing seems to happen for weeks. Then suddenly, often when you least expect it, growth appears. A workshop fills. A customer discovers your work. An opportunity arrives. The effort you thought nobody noticed begins to bear fruit.

The challenge is continuing to tend the garden during the quiet seasons.

And perhaps most importantly, positivity is understanding that our worth is not measured by a sales figure, a booking number, a social media statistic or a rejection letter.

Those things may reflect a moment in time.

They do not define who we are.

So when things feel difficult, perhaps positivity is simply this:

Acknowledge the disappointment.

Learn what you can from it.

Then keep going.

Because the story isn't finished yet.

The studio doors are still open.

The lights are still on.

People are still creating here.

Wonderful tutors are still sharing their skills.

Ideas are still bubbling away.

And despite the rejections, the setbacks and the frustrations, I'm still excited about what's coming next.

Perhaps that's what staying positive really means.

Not pretending everything is perfect.

Not ignoring the disappointment.

Not forcing a smile when you'd rather scream into a cushion.

But simply deciding that today's setback won't stop tomorrow's possibility.

And sometimes, that's enough.

Tomorrow is another day.