 This is a milestone for me: my 100th blog post. So today I’m writing about how hard it is to begin hard things and why you might want to do it anyway. I didn’t want to start a blog but knew I should. The good writers made it seem effortless, but I knew better. Mostly I put it off (and off and off) because it seemed too hard. “Don’t do it!” my inner critic cautioned. “The internet is littered with abandoned blogs.” I spent a lot of energy not writing a blog, but gradually my desire to communicate took over, so I began. Sometimes we put off doing something because we are afraid of failure, or even of success. We don’t know what the results will be. But this undone thing sits there in your mind, getting bigger and more solid until it turns into a wall, a barrier that gets in your way and obscures your view of what’s really on the other side. What are typical barriers in an artist’s life? Fears about rejection or being vulnerable, resistance to learning new skills, reluctance to ask for advice from experts. Barriers can be internal as well: confidence in yourself and your work, belief that your art matters. When you push through your own barriers you find opportunity, you learn and grow, you face disappointment and discover new possibilities. It takes work to sort it all out. But the energy you were using to avoid doing hard things is at last available, and you are in motion. As I write this 100th blog post I look back with gratitude. I’ve gained a wonderful connection to artists I might not have reached in any other way. So, my advice? Do the hard thing, and see what happens. ~ Mary Mary Edwards, Ph.D Career & Life Coach for Artists “Left Brain Skills for Right Brained People” Instagram: coachingforartists.maryedwards Comments are closed.
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