Life Lessons: Mary Beth Babcock

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

LIFE LESSONS

Mary Beth Babcock, 37, owner of Dwelling Spaces, 119 S. Detroit Ave. and 511 S. Boston Ave., home of “I (Heart) Tulsa” T-shirts, tulsaworld.com/dwellingspaces.

I’ve had Dwelling Spaces for three years now. It was scary as could be starting it, but I’m just the kind of person that I have to listen to my heart and spirit and follow that.

When I can tell someone cares, I’m just attracted to that.

I think of my grandmother and how graceful she is. Dora Grace Bailey, she’s always taught me to be gracious, to be graceful, oh gosh, to be very thankful. She surprises me. She’s 90 years old. Some of the stories she shares with me shock me.

When I’m 90, I want to feel fulfilled. I don’t want to look back and go: “Gosh, I wish I had done this or that?”

My mother Cheryl Babcock has been an incredible example of becoming a woman.

There’s something beautiful about life. I was thinking about that earlier today. Every single day I learn something new.

From my dad, Robert Babcock, I learned to be engaged with who you are talking to. Really listen.

When I was young, we were in Santa Fe just walking down the street.
Me and my mom were walking, and all of a sudden my dad wasn’t there. I remember I looked back and I saw him talking to a homeless guy.

My dad said, “We’re all equal people. You don’t know what other people are going through.”

As I get older, I want to sit back and remind myself to listen to people. I’ve come in contact with so many different people, and I’ve learned that I can’t always make everyone happy — That’s a tough thing for me.

I always knew I wanted to have a gift shop.

As far as learning the whole business world, be very conscious, be very aware, watch what’s going on, ask people what they want. Listen. I keep going back to that. Listen and pay attention. Pay your taxes and pay your bills, don’t get behind, because that can happen easy.

I deal with hard times. I go through the grieving process. First I’m usually upset. The tears come out. I don’t try to fight that. I let it happen. I try to be natural about it. Organic. Let my body do its thing. Cry. Then I might get angry a little bit. I might be: “Why? Why? I knew better!” I kick myself a little bit, but I don’t take too much time.

“I made a mistake. I fell down. Get up. Keep going. Just don’t do that again.” I could relate that to business, a relationship, a financial decision. I could relate that, really, to anything.

Enjoy the moment. Enjoy what’s going on right now. And you don’t need answers. You don’t. Even though you’re like, “What’s going to happen?”

I just hope to continue on this colorful path that I’m on, and to keep wisdom. In the business world, I hope to continue to learn the ins and outs of running a successful business.

I hope to cross paths with the right people who are intriguing to me and have a passion. I’m big about passion.

I wish more people would do what they love, because life is so precious. Do what you love. Don’t just go along and let it all happen. Enjoy it. Affect someone. Help somebody else out.

Maybe having a little fear can be good.

Tulsa has an awesome energy going on. I think it’s a very unique place. I love when people from New York, or wherever, come through the shop and they’re shocked and surprised. They say: “This is Oklahoma?” That, to me, is success.

I went to the Tulsa Girls Art School and there was a young girl, Cindy Patten, and she had taken these photographs — there was one of a one-way sign. She came over. The beauty of a child: She looked up and said, “Yeah, it’s a one-way sign. It’s just go forward. Don’t look back.” That’s something that, we as adults, make complicated. To look through a child’s eyes blew me away. So, yeah, keep going forward.

I can’t sit and wallow in whatever. It’s like, “OK, you’ve got amazing things going on. You’re meeting amazing people. Keep it going. Keep doing that. Keep being active. Just keep going. I believe when the right thing is supposed to happen, it will happen.

I want to continue to not set my limits low and to always just think: “I can do anything.”

By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer