ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
Reason No 2. on the Halloween inspired countdown of Scary Reasons not to Pursue your Creative Path and how to face them.
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What if I can’t pull it off and somehow fail miserably and publically at that?
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First off – define failing for yourself. For me it wasn’t not posting a painting a day – my commitment and self-determination levels to do a thing, once decided upon, are pretty intense.
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For me failing meant posting a painting that I did not think met any standards of ‘good’. I have stupid AF standards of perfection – crippling at times. Those are hard for me to accept, but also good for me to practice kindness to myself over.
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Here’s what I realised. If I or you should ‘fail’ and in the case of something like a public daily challenge, fail in front of other people, reality’s response would be different to the fear in my head.
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Fear in my head says hundreds of humans are going to point and laugh and ridicule your pathetic attempt. (awful but sound familiar?)
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Reality is by far more awesome.
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In reality, if you ‘fail’ or just decide to stop because it’s no longer for you (which is also hella cool and hella brave), then hundreds of people will have seen you try something.
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We all just want to be loved and acknowledged and recognised for who we are. You sitting up to do your creative thing – no matter how far you get or how it unfolds, will not ever lead to public failure. It will lead to public truth. You sharing your journey of creative pursuit will cultivate a two way street of inspiration – and it really will not matter which branches fall off in the process.
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Just that you broke free and planted your creative tree.
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(artist retains all rights to print reproductions of this painting)
Inspiration: artist’s own and common licence photography