Mermaiding blues...

[Aziara]

I'm starting to wonder if I should continue with my mermaiding. I'm starting to lose interest in it, and that's making me depressed. I've always been the kind to jump in head-first, then lose my fire when I'm almost there. I really hoped that mermaiding would be the thing I stick with, and I'm so mad at myself that I can't make myself NOT be so danged fickle. To make it worse, I had hoped that Halloween would be my debut--I printed out business card to give out with the candy and sat on my porch swing in my tail. 2 hours and a million mosquito bites later, only three kids from the ghetto had showed up. That might sound harsh, and I'm not racist or anything, but their costumes looked like something cobbled together from stuff already in their closets. Definitely not people who can afford an entertainer for their birthday. Halloween's never that big in my neighborhood, but we usually get at least a dozen or so kids. *sigh* I'm also getting discouraged because of my own physical struggles. I'm so allergic to wheat that a simple touch from someone who has eaten it will give me 'intestinal distress' (true description left out for your own mental stability) for days. My husband keeps asking, "what if one of the kids has birthday cake on their hands?" I figured that there wouldn't be cake in the pool, but I'm starting to wonder if that isn't just wishful thinking on my part. I'm currently in the middle of a bad reaction right now just from the kid I babysit sitting on a pile of horse feed (That contained wheat...yeah). I keep coming back to the forum hoping to rekindle the fire I had before, but reading about how everyone else is so excited about mermaids just makes me feel bad about my own apathy. I would certainly appreciate your prayers and good wishes.

[Echinacea]

It is definitely rough having that extreme an allergy, but don't let it ruin the fun of being a mythical creature for you! Not everyone has to be a performing mermaid! There is nothing wrong with mermaiding for the fun of it, because you enjoy swimming around in a tail, or like the ocean and its inhabitants. Possibly check out whether you could help with any conservation-related events, where you might stand less chance of coming in contact with stuff like cake.

[Aziara]

I might have to do that, Echi. I just figured on doing kid's parties because I love playing with kids. *sigh* I really need my own pool! I don't care if it's 50 degrees out, I'd totally go swimming to clear my head right now.

[TheChimera]

I have had similar problems with many other things, and then i realized that i need to go easy on myself, and stop trying to do and experience EVERYTHING, eventually we do need to settle down with what we REALLY Want in life, and most importantly, what we NEED. If that means giving up on something , then it is something to consider, you can always pick up where you left off later when you feel you are in the place you need to be in your life.

But on an encouraging side, what helps is to look at a bunch of videos and movies and anything with mermaids and the ocean, if you feel being a mermaid is right for you, you meed to train yourself in the mindset . Stick to it, collect mermaidy things, books , magazines , anything that reminds you of the ocean, don't be afraid of letting your mind go with all kinds of mermaidy daydreams, and also try and expand your reach beyond the 'ghetto' , offer to aqaintences to perform at their parties, free of charge at first, and if you are good, word of mouth will travel swiftly, and then gradually increase your performing fees, offer to perform at friend's and relative parties first to be safe, and try to take a mertender with like your husband, set rules for your clients, especially with your allergy, set up a list of rules for clients before hand, one of the rules in my list for example is " no groping the mermaid" since you do get pervs, an example of a good one for your list would be " mermaids are allergic to gluten or wheat, keep it away from her and the pool or performance space" treat yourself with that kind of professional dignity, and expect it from others.

You're going to be fine, you'll sea ;)

[Aziara]

Thanks, Chimera. I've been feeling a bit better lately, I think much of it was winter staring me in the face with the fact that I won't be swimming until late spring... The problem with living in a temperate climate is that no one sees the point of an indoor heated pool for the few months that are unswimmable. I also discovered I had a serious deficiency in my diet. Fixing that has made me feel a lot less moody.

[Echidna]

The problem with living in a temperate climate is that no one sees the point of an indoor heated pool for the few months that are unswimmable.
Aw, that sucks.
I guess is comparable to European mediterranean climate?
It's mostly warm, and you can swim most months of the year except November to March (more further south).
As downside, no heated indoor pools, and often no heating in houses :eek:

I must say though, that even here with our almost polar climate (:p), the indoor pools have become increasingly cold and uninviting.
I was actually freezing today, and so were the other swimmers. And that was in the warm pools :P

[Aziara]

Yeah, probably somewhat similar to the Mediterranean climate, though our high humidity make anything lower than 60 degrees f feel freezing, so we do have heat in houses here.

[Echinacea]

Check into maybe doing some kind of mermaiding activities with daycares/kindergartens? Mermaid story time? Still lets you interact with kids, but not as much chance of cake!

[Mermaid Momo]

Check into maybe doing some kind of mermaiding activities with daycares/kindergartens? Mermaid story time? Still lets you interact with kids, but not as much chance of cake!

And try libraries too!
Handing out cards on halloween was a good idea but probably wouldn't have gone very far because most kids just throw away things that aren't candy anyway or just shove it into their bag/bucket to get lost within the pile of candy even if they intended to keep it.

If you still want to do parties try pining up cards on bulls time boards around your community or leaving cards on the desks of stores or crammed in library books. Seek out your local community paper and tell them about yourself to try and get at least a small story written (you can get a fried to do it if you don't want to seem like you're fishing for the article) if the local high school or middle school has a journalism class or newspaper contact the teacher responsible and ask if a student would like to do a feature on you. :) good luck!


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[TheChimera]

And try libraries too!
Handing out cards on halloween was a good idea but probably wouldn't have gone very far because most kids just throw away things that aren't candy anyway or just shove it into their bag/bucket to get lost within the pile of candy even if they intended to keep it.

If you still want to do parties try pining up cards on bulls time boards around your community or leaving cards on the desks of stores or crammed in library books. Seek out your local community paper and tell them about yourself to try and get at least a small story written (you can get a fried to do it if you don't want to seem like you're fishing for the article) if the local high school or middle school has a journalism class or newspaper contact the teacher responsible and ask if a student would like to do a feature on you. :) good luck!


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You could always give a a sucker, or sweet or something with the flyer about yourself, but like stick the two together, so that the child would be forced to read it, just a thought