Shiny, Colourful Plans for 2025 and Beyond

In the upcoming year, I plan to re-enter the gemstone world in earnest.

I’m looking to get into the following things:

1) Revive my long-dormant @loupinjewels Instagram account, also so that I can put up items for sale on my account. I did think about creating a separate account to do this, but it seems like an unnecessary bother to do so. There is quite a lot to sell - especially fluorites - which I’m no longer collecting.

2) Keep building contacts, especially gem cutters and jewellers, so that I can get my rough stones cut, and my cut stones set.

3) Learn to cut my own stones - exploring the possibility of a 2-week course.

4) Study gemmology at AIGS in Bangkok - this will require something in the region of 3 - 4 months.

5) Finally set up my gems and minerals display(s) at home - Looking to give it a generally softer atmosphere, so not just glass and stands and shelves, but also some ambient display elements, preferably to do with the natural world - perhaps something like a terrarium, but only as a sort of background. The main focus should still be the gems and minerals.

6) Invite fellow gem / mineral enthusiasts for small gatherings - not sure how this will go, but it’ll be nice to have like-minded friends come together to talk and hang out.

I don’t know if being in the gemstone world will be able to replace my current income anytime soon, but I believe that it’s worth a shot. After all, I’ve been talking about leaving the peripheries of the formal education system for a long time.

2025 is as good a year as any to kickstart that process.

Happy to have you along for the ride!

How to Stop Having Shiny Object Syndrome

I used to listen to many Internet 'gurus' and personalities.

And, as you might expect, I got confused by their conflicting messages on what to do and how to do it.

I tried one thing, then another, and then another, and so on.

Shiny Object Syndrome, they call it.

As it turns out, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
*Disclaimer: I love cats. I also love old phrases.*

It's not that they were wrong or intentionally misleading (though some of them definitely are).

It's that their method works for them. And it doesn't necessarily work for everyone else.

So, the only way to figure out what works for you is to take their advice with a generous handful of salt, and try ONE thing that resonates with you.

Then, shut everyone else off. And focus on that ONE thing.

Only after you've given it a good, long shot do you try another.

Processes work. Methods work. But they all take time. And energy.

If you don't put in the work, they won't work for you.