Why I Broke up with Etsy
An explanation of why I no longer sell on Etsy
I closed my Etsy shop recently. I mentioned that this was coming in a recent message to my email list (sign up here Home - Words of Hope Designs ), but wanted to make sure everyone in my audience had a chance to hear why.
Why would I leave the platform that provided the most sales for Words of Hope Designs last year? Let me explain. Warning: It’s not pretty (TW: child sexual abuse)
I recently became aware that Etsy has allowed multiple sellers of harmful and exploitative products to remain on its platform. In short, I am leaving Etsy because their actions do not align with the core values of Words of Hope Designs LLC. I’ll be exploring those core values soon, but the major one at play here is this: defense of the vulnerable.
This paragraph from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s website explains the Etsy situation:
Etsy is a global online marketplace known for “unique and creative goods” including handmade and vintage products. Unfortunately, it is also in the business of selling pornographic merchandise, image-based sexual abuse, misogynistic apparel, and sex dolls – including ones resembling children and young teens.
Etsy - NCOSE (endsexualexploitation.org)
Click on the link for more details (if you can stomach it).
If you’re anything like me, you’re thinking, “Wait, this is probably just some silly rumor. I haven’t heard anything about this anywhere else.”
It took me awhile to be convinced that this is actually happening. Sadly, not only is it true, but Etsy has been petitioned for over a year now to remove these sellers, and has not done so. Check out the links below for more information.
It is so disappointing that a platform all about selling handmade goods is allowing this evil to continue. While I am disappointed in Etsy, I am grateful for the opportunity to make my reasons for closing my shop known to them, which I have.
Besides closing my Etsy shop, I have signed this petition to increase pressure on Etsy to stop selling these child sexual abuse-promoting products, and I invite you to join me. Click the link below to do so.
Petition · Etsy: Stop selling incest and child abuse themed merch! · Change.org
While I wish I had a happier note to close on, what gives me hope is that the petition linked above has over 60,000 signatures, and many other Etsy sellers are closing their shops as a way of making their voices heard. My hope and prayer is that Etsy finally listens to all these voices being raised against its harmful, exploitative practices.
I invite you to add your voice by signing the petition.
Together we can stand against evil and protect the vulnerable.
In Hope,
Joanna
Ditching the Pacifier
There’s nothing wrong with feeling secure, but if we’re never uncomfortable, we’re not growing.
I wanted to do everything right with my first child. I had heard somewhere that babies should stop using pacifiers around their first birthday, so, when she turned one, out went the pacies. We went cold turkey.
By the time my third child was nearing her first birthday, let’s just say I had relaxed a bit. Maybe there were other things that seemed more important at the time. Maybe it was because she was my last baby. One way or another, my mental timeline for ditching the pacifier got moved from her first birthday to her second birthday, to...well, she’s two-and-a-half now, so three sounds good.
The funny thing about this age, though, is that pacifier-loving toddlers also start wanting to make their voices and opinions known. When you’re the youngest, sometimes you have to be loud to get noticed (just ask me...I’m the baby of my family too).
More and more lately, my littlest will be trying to tell me something very important, but her words come out garbled, thanks to the pacifier she is trying to talk around. It’s pretty cute. But also frustrating. So eventually I reach over and (“pop!”) pluck the paci out, and ask, “Now, what were you saying?” She gives me a sweet smile and repeats her very important message, which I can now understand.
In an attempt to make the transition easier, I have started dropping hints about the fact that her pacifier won’t be around much longer.
“You know, big girls don’t use pacies”
“Pretty soon you’re not going to need this!”
But she hasn’t bought in yet. She loves the comfort and security that this remnant of her infancy brings her. Even though it’s holding her back from making her voice heard, from fully embracing this new phase of her life.
I was struck by this thought the other day: How often do I cling to the status quo, even when it’s holding me back, because it’s familiar and comforting?
Ouch.
Can you relate?
There’s nothing wrong with feeling secure, but if we’re never uncomfortable, we’re not growing.
I challenge you to join me and my toddler in ditching the things that we have held onto because they were familiar, but are no longer aligned with our present-day goals and dreams.
Hope When You Can’t Pull Yourself up by Your Bootstraps
What if, as we enter a new year, we don’t focus on pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, on trying (again) to fix what’s broken on our own? What if, instead, we open up honestly about our struggles to the one who can actually change things?
As we enter a new year still reeling from a difficult (to put it mildly) couple of years, I have a sense that many of us are bracing ourselves. We want to have great expectations for the year, but there are so many things about our current lives that do not look the way we were expecting them to look. There are so many things that still need to be healed, and it’s hard to be optimistic.
If you’re anything like me, when you have a problem, you prefer to be able to fix it yourself. I mean, why involve other people if we don’t have to, right? That might mean admitting that we don’t have it all together. Plus, we don’t want to burden them. This line of thinking is one I repeatedly have to unlearn.
I started reading through the book of John a couple weeks ago, and came across the account in John 5 of the invalid who was trying to get himself healed at the pool at Bethesda. When Jesus asks if he wants to be healed, this is his reply: “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (John 5:7, ESV)
Let’s stop here for a second. Because I totally relate to this man. He knows he needs healing. He has somehow gotten himself to the healing pool, but now cannot manage to be the first one in when the water is stirred up, to actually get healed.
He wants to be well. He knows how. But he can’t get it done without help. I can relate to his frustration.
Jesus, of course, already knows his story and his heart before approaching him.
Do you sometimes imagine that Jesus will take a look at your struggles and shame you for not being able to “get yourself healed” on your own yet? I know I have.
That’s certainly not what he does for this man, though. No, he says, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk,” healing him miraculously in the process. The man’s honest admission of his need for help, along with his faith in actually doing what Jesus told him to do, was rewarded.
What if, as we enter a new year, we don’t focus on pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, on trying (again) to fix what’s broken on our own? What if, instead, we open up honestly about our struggles to the one who can actually change things? The one who may choose to miraculously heal us in an instant, may put people in our lives who can help us heal, and may open our eyes to paths of healing that we hadn’t yet considered.
The verses after the man’s healing talk about the hubbub Jesus caused by healing on the Sabbath, and Jesus’ instructions to the man to sin no more. But the last verse in this section, verse 17 (NIV), stuck out to me:
“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’”
What a reminder. God is always at work. He sees your efforts and frustrations, he knows what you need, and he is working.
If there’s anything that can bring us hope right now, it’s this.
The Soundtracks of our Lives
So often, we accept soundtracks without even examining them. Would you ever consider turning on a recording of fingernails on a chalkboard at full blast while trying to do an important task? Just the thought of that makes me cringe. And yet, I’ve tried to do the important task of living with soundtracks that are just as painful running through my head.
I realized recently that I hadn’t yet written a blog post that really explained the reason I created Words of Hope Designs. I put it on my mental to-do list, and kept doing things like creating art. (It’s my favorite.)
But then last week I listened to Jon Acuff’s new book Soundtracks and my mind was blown. Have you ever read a book and felt like the author was “inside your head,” reading your thoughts and addressing the questions you’ve been wrestling with? This was one of those experiences.
And then I realized: It’s time. Time to share with my people exactly why I am spending my days creating art with messages of hope and truth. It turns out there’s more to it than just pretty letters. So here goes.
In Soundtracks, Acuff explains that we all live with “soundtracks” running through our heads all the time. Not literal music, but thought patterns. There is the soundtrack of “she must be mad at me” when a friend hasn’t returned our text after two days, and the soundtrack of “nothing ever goes right for me” when we face yet another unexpected challenge. And, as Acuff puts it, “the brain is kind of a jerk,” meaning that we all have the natural tendency to focus on the negative.
But what if we could actually choose our soundtracks? If we could decide what station our brains were going to be tuned to? It sounds easy, too simple to work, right? And, it turns out, it is simple. But it’s not easy.
The first step is identifying the soundtracks that are already playing. This can be tough for me. Often, I don’t realize that “you aren’t getting anything useful done today” or “you are messing up your kids” is running through my head; I will just have a sense of dread and feelings of anxiety and irritability as I try to go about my day.
Here is a simple win: When you have that yucky feeling of something being “off,” but you can’t quite put your finger on it, pause for a minute (get out a sheet of paper if you are a visual processor like me) and identify the soundtrack that is running through your head.
What is your brain telling you in this moment? Don’t judge the message yet, just identify it.
Then, ask these three questions (straight from Acuff’s book):
Is it true?
Is it helpful?
Is it kind?
Don’t rush through--really give an honest answer to each of these. Talk to yourself like you would talk to a good friend.
So often, we accept soundtracks without even examining them. Would you ever consider turning on a recording of fingernails on a chalkboard at full blast while trying to do an important task? Just the thought of that makes me cringe. And yet, I’ve tried to do the important task of living with soundtracks that are just as painful running through my head.
There’s good news here, though! We can choose a different soundtrack, or, put another way, we can “be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Rom 12:2 NIV)
Sound familiar? This isn’t new information; it’s just information with untapped potential.
That is exactly the mission behind Word of Hope Designs. I developed a practice of helping myself choose the right soundtracks, and realized how powerful it was. So powerful I wanted to share it. Our soundtracks are formed by the messages we allow into our brains, or messages that entered in before we knew better, and the way we process them. One great way to create the soundtracks we want is by surrounding ourselves with visual reminders of the messages we need when things get tough.
It is always a good feeling to read something that you suspected to be true and learn that someone has already proven it. I’m so glad that Acuff and others have done the research to show that the messages we tell ourselves determine the course of our lives (read the book for more details on exactly how). But, didn’t you already kind of suspect it?
That’s why the Bible tells us: “...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Phil 4:8 NIV).
If you, like me, know somewhere in the back of your mind that there is reason to have hope in this messed up world, but often feel yourself living a less than hopeful life, I challenge you to examine the soundtracks you are listening to. It will change how you show up in your life, the decisions you make, and, as a result, the way your life unfolds.
Now, please don’t think I am proposing some form of toxic positivity, of only ever talking about happy things, or of pretending that we are in control of everything that happens to us. I’m not talking about the prosperity gospel, not some trite “everything’s gonna be alright” message, but rather of “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15 NIV) to ourselves.
As Jesus put it, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)
That is my mission at Words of Hope Designs. Creating messages of hope that you can place in your living and working spaces to help create soundtracks worth listening to. I have seen it make a huge difference in my life, and I pray the same will occur for you.
A Bend in the Road
Next time you are feeling stuck, instead of asking “What am I capable of doing?” (because you don’t truly know the answer to this question, and your brain will sell you short), try instead asking “If I knew it would succeed, how would I approach this? What are some outside-the-box ideas?” These questions give you permission to dream.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Pvbs 29:18 (KJV)
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5 (ESV)
A crazy thing happened recently on my morning run. There is a river that winds through my town, and a path that runs along the river. Naturally, this seems like the perfect place to go running. It was one of the first routes I checked out when we moved here. I was disappointed to find, though, that the path didn’t go very far at all before it turned, crossed a busy street, and kind of just ended. Well, that was disappointing. It hardly seemed worth the effort to drive to this path if I was going to have to turn around and retrace my steps after less than a mile.
But I went back the other day, after my original running plans fell through. I figured I would give the trail another chance, fully expecting to have to run its length several times to reach the distance I planned to run.
After going what I thought was the full length of the trail, down and back, I noticed that there was a fork where I could go up a little hill and over a footbridge. I’m sure it won’t lead to anything, but what do I have to lose? I took the new path, dodging the city workers who were hanging Christmas lights on the footbridge.
I couldn’t believe what I saw next. Not only did the trail continue, it seemed to go for quite a distance, winding back toward the river and providing some beautiful, tree-lined views. Suddenly my entire view of this trail changed. It was totally worth it to drive here to run. I completed the distance that I had set out to do, and didn’t even see the full extent of the trail. I’ll have to go back again soon.
Why had I never seen this extension of what I thought was the trail, this path to the REAL trail, before? Maybe I was too focused on what was right in front of my face to consider what could be if I just took that unassuming little side-path. Who knows? But I’m glad I gave it another chance today.
I have found the same thing to be true in life. Often when I feel stuck, when I feel like I’m at the end of the trail with nowhere to go except back where I came from, I become temporarily blind to the other options. I look only at what my original plan was, or what others are doing, instead of the roads less travelled.
Our “stuck” feelings have a way of squashing creative thinking. But if I can stop focusing on what’s right in front of me, and give myself permission and space to dream, the next step often becomes clear. Sometimes just one step ahead, sometimes a whole mile of tree-lined trail.
Next time you are feeling stuck, instead of asking “What am I capable of doing?” (because you don’t truly know the answer to this question, and your brain will sell you short), try instead asking “If I knew it would succeed, how would I approach this? What are some outside-the-box ideas?” These questions give you permission to dream.
Like I was taught when learning how to brainstorm story ideas in first grade, don’t shoot down any ideas. Just put them out there and sit with them. Ask God to open your eyes to what could be, not just what you see in front of you. Ask Him for vision. Then ask for wisdom.
Because great things don’t come from doing what’s always been done. They start with seeing what could be. And God, the greatest creative thinker of all time, wants to expand your vision. There’s no better way to get unstuck.