Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Everything Is Relevant

by Maggie Franklin | March 3, 2010 | Bookmark +

Can you believe it?! The editors here at NAILS actually told me they didn't feel one of the last entries I submitted for my blog was "relevant." It was all about my new cell phone — and believe me, that's a big deal AND it's a long story, but the shortest version I can tell is that the phone is a big deal because it's my first camera phone. And it's a nice camera — five megapixels with a macro mode so I can now snap impromptu photos of people’s nails wherever I go. How is that not nail-related?

 

Honestly, having my editors reject an entry didn't bug me too much. I had a back up prepared anyway, but last night while I was standing in the kitchen making dinner with the BF (yes, we cook dinner together every night, even when I work till 11 p.m. — just bragging cuz he can be awesome ... sometimes), it occurred to me that I think everything is nail-related!

 

I mean, I do nails. Therefore, everything I do is nail-related, right?

 

Problem is, I don't just do nails, I am nails. Nails is so much a part of my life that I often forget that other people don't amalgamate their careers, hobbies, families, vehicles, etc. So my new phone is nail-related because the only reason I have a phone is for business and the only reason I need a camera phone is to take pictures of nails when I'm out and about in the world — where I'm probably shopping for nail stuff.

 

And while I was standing in the kitchen having my epiphany, it also occurred to me that I don't think this is obsessive or unusual at all — because most of the nail techs I know are also one with their work.

 

And no. I don't think it's at all unhealthy for us to be this preoccupied with what we do. I have spent the last 17+ years listening to clients who are worn down by their jobs. They are listless and miserable and battered by whatever it is that they do every day to pay their bills. They all say they wish they could win the lottery or marry rich so they could quit their jobs.

 

Not me. If I won the lottery it would just mean I could afford more glitter. I could go to more tradeshows. I could go to more networking events. I could develop my own product line. I could start my own nail style magazine for consumers. I could do the advertising to take my message to the world — all those things I've already told you I would do.

 

A few months ago now, while I was sitting on the floor (lottery would also mean building my perfect pedi set up) doing some killer rock star toes, my client shared a little of her frustration with her job. I looked up at her and told her that what she needed was a job that she loved, that she'd look forward to going back to at the end of the weekend.

 

She looked at me with wrinkled brow and asked me, "Maggie, do you really feel like that about your job?"

 

Well, yeah. Yeah, I do.

 

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