Surviving Liberation

Picking yourself.

So far, I’ve been lucky. Lucky, but others might not be. Lucky only for now, because the future is built one second, one minute, one day at a time. When the markets reacted recently, I started working out a plan. I chose to invest in myself this year. I dropped my 401(k) contribution from 20% to 0—not because I gave up on saving, but because I’m shifting the investment inward. I’ll let the rest keep snowballing, but I thought it might be wiser to pay income tax on those contributions and use the cash now to pay down personal debt. The big paper factory I work for tends to do well in uncertain times. It’s a global company, and investors park money there when storms roll in. Our stock price even jumped on what some called “Liberation Day.”

At the pottery, I’ve got about a ton of clay to reclaim and another 500 pounds ready to finish out the year. The wheels, kilns, and pottery shed are all paid off—solid assets in a business with a low overhead. I’ve got about a year’s worth of raw materials for glaze, and I mix my own, so I’m not at the mercy of suppliers. The shop will survive. All I need to do is keep showing up, making pots, and building inventory. I don’t expect to sell much this year, especially locally—folks just aren’t buying right now. That’s okay. This will be a skill-building year. A year of testing, repair, and quiet innovation. I’ve seen these cycles before in manufacturing: when things slow down, you train, do maintenance, and refine. I’m applying that same thinking to the studio.

I may try to open up other revenue streams. I’ve been focused heavily on local sales, and while that brought joy and connection, it might be time to shift back toward online efforts. Diversifying income streams has become more important. It might help to treat these areas like projects—each with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Knowing where I am in the process gives clarity and momentum. The pots, the writing, the kiln, even my financial decisions—they’re all projects under different names. I just have to keep track of which phase I’m in, and keep moving forward.

Being liberated is hard work. If we’re truly “liberated” from something, it means we take on the weight and responsibility of that freedom. In America, it doesn’t feel like we’re doing that. It feels more like we’re riding shotgun with a drunk driver after years of letting an old rich uncle fumble the wheel while pretending he was still in charge. In my view, both parties have been hijacked by greed and corporate influence. Even the law firms are scared—worried about being blacklisted and losing future acquisitions. But here's the good part: we all get to watch what happens next. Just like firing a kiln loaded with experimental work, you don’t always know what’s going to come out. America packed it with a bit of madness. Now we wait.

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If I were living yesterday a second time, I would have:

Made more pots, however, I did get the car repairs done and taxes filed.

Things I am grateful for:

I tried a new technique with the pots yesterday.

If I get to live to be 86, I only have:

13095 days left.