Want to
know a secret? Fear has been one of my closest companions my whole life.
Here’s a
fact, Fear is a strong source of motivation, sometimes the strongest. Here’s
another fact, that motivation can get you to better places, the problem is that
more often than not it seems to motivate you to turn and run in the opposite
direction, or just freeze sporting the dumbest face you’re capable of.
Do you want
to know another secret? Fear probably just
wants to help you to reach that better place but the wacko has not the best
sense of direction so you need add your two cents too, it’s just trying to give
you some advice, you can take it, ignore it, or bend it, letting Fear lead
probably won’t end pretty well but once you turn it into a team work chances
are that you weren’t condemned to doom after all.
This
conversation happened last Wednesday regarding this illustration:
- Not your best, is it?
-...o_O…well it’s not that bad…
-She seems calculating, you should fix it
-…. yeah ….. a pity there’s no time, it’s going
in the mail tomorrow morning, and it’s such a tiny area that is going to be difficult
to lift it completely, and probably will look weirder after that, there’s no
time to redo the whole thing if I ruin it, it really needs to be in the mail
tomorrow blah blah blah…
-Change · it
-O_O
Rest
assured I was the one getting the blows. It’s unsettling to get that kind of
straight feedback -not to mention nailed critique- right the night before I
want to mail the thing. And all the blabber? That’s a lot of stupid excuses
pouring out of my mouth as fast as Fear whispers them in my ear.
I’m always
telling fellow painter friends to just go for a change they are pondering, that
it won’t be ruined, that once you’ve done something you can do it again if bad
comes to worse, and every time I’ve firmly believed every bit of it.
When you have
something that you know is not working, and the chances are either leaving it
as is (just to avoid ruining something that you know isn’t good enough), or
changing it and maybe fixing it... it’s a no brainer, isn’t it? You go for it
and make it better.
Now insert Fear and my own work: bye-bye no-brainer, hello brain
shutdown, let’s hold hands and run up the hills.
And then is
when being friends with Fear might be an advantage. Maybe - just maybe – I’ll give
it a knowing look and say “hey why not trying to lift it? Imagine if I screw
up, that’s gonna be the kind of panic attack that you’re going to love fueling,
look forward to it while I rework this, will you?”
Yes, in the
end it took more time arguing through that conversation and defending the case
in my brain than it took to just get to the task and repaint that face.
It’s a fact
that Fear is going to be there right by your side sometimes, so you might as
well befriend it, enjoy your time together and make the best out of it!