3 Shifts That Turn "Someday" Into Today
You've whispered "someday" for years now. Someday when you're ready. Someday when things settle. What if someday could quietly become right now?
I spent 25 years in corporate retail. Vice president. Big titles, big meetings, big spreadsheets. And in all those years — surrounded by fabric, packaging, product, pattern every single day — not one person ever said the words "surface pattern design" to me.
Not one whisper.
So when I got laid off in my late 50s and my husband finally coaxed that dusty box of art supplies up from the basement, I wasn't chasing a career. I was just trying to feel like myself again. And then I stumbled onto this whole world — where artists turn simple drawings into patterns that go on fabric and wallpaper and greeting cards and dresses. People were making a living at it. A real one.
I remember sitting there thinking: How did I not know this existed?
Well, now I know. It's right here. And there's space for you.
That's what I want to talk about today.
You've stood at a threshold before, haven't you? A new season. An empty nest. A retirement you weren't quite ready for. A page you weren't sure you were allowed to turn.
And each time, moving forward came down to the same thing. Changing your mind about a few key things.
Turning your "someday" into a start date works exactly the same way. Before you worry about whether you're too old or too far behind or too anything, I want to offer you three shifts. Three quiet changes in how you see this. They're what open the door: it's real, it's learnable, and you don't do it alone.
Shift #1: Your Next Step Is Right Here
The women who come to me aren't confused about whether they want this. They know. They've known for a while. They can already picture their art on fabric. They talk about their "third act." They call it "something real."
One woman in my most recent Doodles Coaching Week wrote that her big why was simply to turn "my little world of my little art into something real that I can share with others." Read that again. Something real. That's not a woman who needs convincing. That's a woman standing right in the doorway, already leaning in.
So if the dream is that alive in you — and I suspect it is, or you wouldn't be reading this — here's what I need you to know. The thing keeping it stuck in "someday" was never a lack of desire. And it was never a lack of talent. It was that nobody handed you the next step.
If you've tried before — if you signed up for a course somewhere, got excited, and then quietly closed the laptop halfway through because it moved too fast and assumed you already knew things nobody ever taught you — the problem was not you.
I mean that. The problem was never you.
You didn't fail. You just hadn't found the right guide yet.
And I say that as someone who needed the right guide too. I didn't come to this as a young designer with a portfolio and a fine arts degree. I came to it laid off, in my late 50s, staring at a box of art supplies, feeling every bit as daunted as you might be feeling right now. I know how heavy that first step feels — because I felt it. I know how it feels to wonder if you're too late — because I wondered it about myself.
That's why I teach the way I teach. Slowly. On purpose. For the woman standing exactly where I once stood.
Your next step isn't a mystery. It's right here. You just needed someone who remembers the doorway to walk you through it.
Shift #2: It Comes Down To One Skill
Here's the part that surprises almost everyone. You do not have to learn "everything." You don't have to master Adobe Illustrator or memorize a hundred tools or understand every button on the screen.
You need to learn one skill: how to create a seamless repeating pattern.
That's. It.
I watch women talk themselves out of this before they even begin, because they imagine some enormous mountain of technical knowledge waiting for them. One woman in my last cohort said she keeps "bumping into walls" that stop her from progressing. Another said she'd made a couple of attempts at repeating patterns on her own and just hoped the right tool would finally give her the precision she needed.
Do you hear what's underneath that? It's not "I can't do this." It's "I don't yet know what the this even is."
So let me shrink the mountain for you. The entire world of surface pattern design — every path in it, every product you've ever admired — rests on one foundational skill. Once you can take a simple drawing and turn it into a pattern that repeats seamlessly, the whole world opens up. Fabric. Wallpaper. Wrapping paper. Stationery. Dresses. All of it.
One skill. Learnable. By a beginner. By you.
I'm not going to teach you that skill in this little newsletter — that's not what today is for. Today is just about believing it's possible. Because the moment you stop picturing an impossible mountain and start picturing one learnable step, the overwhelm lifts. And "someday" starts to look a lot more like "soon."
You are not behind. You're beginning.
Shift #3: This Is Your Creative Outlet — Now
So many of you tell me this is about income. Extra money. A supplement to social security. A little cushion for retirement. And I want you to hear me clearly: those reasons are good. They're real. They matter, and there is nothing to apologize for in wanting them.
I've read them in your own words, and some of them brought tears to my eyes. A daughter with special needs. A mother you'd love to finally take traveling. A fixed income you're working to stretch a little further. Those are beautiful, worthy reasons to begin.
But here's what I've also noticed, quietly, underneath the income. There's almost always something more.
One woman in my recent cohort said it plainly: "Being creative feeds my soul." Another, retiring after 33 years in social work, said it was simply "time to finally do something creative." Another, 60 years old, wrote that it had been "many years since I took the time to engage in something creative" — and that it was "time to get back to that."
Time to get back to that.
That's the part that lives alongside the money. The reclaiming.
Here's what nobody tells you about waiting for "someday": someday keeps moving. It's always five years out. It's always "when things settle down," when the schedule clears, when you finally feel ready. And the creative part of you — the part that's been quietly waiting in a closet next to a sketchbook — keeps waiting right along with it.
You don't have to make her wait anymore.
So yes — do this for the income, if that's what you need. And also, if you'd like, do it for the pure joy of it. Both reasons can be true at once. Claim it now. Not someday. Now.
Where Do You Go From Here?
Let's bring the three shifts together, because they tell a simple, hopeful story. The dream is real, and you just needed the right guide. The skill at the center of it all is one you can actually learn. And the outlet it gives you is worth claiming today — not in some far-off, tidied-up future.
That's the whole shift, right there. From "maybe someday" to "maybe I could start looking into this."
And looking into it is exactly where I'd love to help you next. I wrote a free ebook called Craft a Career You Love in Surface Pattern Design, and it's the gentlest possible way to peek through the door. Inside, I walk you through the real paths this world offers — the many different ways women just like you are turning simple doodles into designs, products, and yes, income. You'll meet some of them. You'll see their work. And I think you'll be amazed at how many doors there really are — and how many have space for exactly the kind of art you already make.
It's not a commitment. It's a look around. A chance to let your imagination wander through what your own third act could hold.
Grab your free copy of Craft a Career You Love in Surface Pattern Design here
Imagine it for a moment. A year from now, you're not still whispering "someday." You've walked through the door. You've learned the one skill. You've made something real, something yours — and it's sitting in your hands, or hanging in your home, or wrapped around a gift for someone you love.
That woman a year from now? She started with one small look through one open door.
Which is the truer reason you've been holding back — that you didn't think there was space for you, or that you've been waiting for a "someday" that never quite arrives?
xo,
Anne
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
