Why is it so hard to start anything?
I love being in the middle of things.
I love being elbow deep into whatever new project I’m fixated on at the moment. How unfortunate that the exciting in-the-weeds phase follows the most difficult hurdle of the whole process: actually fucking starting it.
I’m sure many of you, especially other artists, can relate. The feeling of having so many ideas floating around, or better yet, having one solid idea, one solid dream that you want desperately to happen. But the wanting isn’t enough to get you to get off TikTok or out of the research phase. You can watch as many videos as you want, read as many tutorials as you want, but nothing replaces actually Doing The Thing. So why is it so hard to do?
Fear of Failure
Let’s get the obvious out of the way — Fear of trying because of a fear of failure. What’s the worst that can happen? No end of the world stuff; Really, actually think about what is realistically the worst that could happen. Do you have a plan for that? I’ve found that making sure my bases are covered and making sure I will survive should everything go to shit goes a long way for relieving the anxiety around putting myself out there.
A part of you should almost expect at least some degree of failure. Your first few tries at a new hobby are going to suck. They are. Yes, even you. But that’s the fun of it! Trying new things, exploring yourself, learning what you like enough to push past the You Suck At This phase. Get out there, don’t worry about being perfect, just do the thing!
Fear of Success
We’re talking good old self-sabotage, our old friend. Well, maybe your friend. I hate that guy.
It is such a common place to be though, isn’t it? Afraid of The Thing actually going well. What comes with that? Pressure? The expectation to follow it up with something better? To what end? Change is scary, even in its most positive forms.
Be kind to yourself. You deserve the success of your efforts paying off.
Analysis Paralysis
We’ve all been there. You’ve done the research, you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole, you’ve made notes, you’re ready to start. But maaaaybe you still need one last pro/con list, one last flowchart? NO. You’ve got it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done. Just. Start.
Break things up into little pieces. Start with the smallest possible step you could do to start, and only focus on that. If your project is to learn to use alcohol markers, don’t think about trying to create a masterpiece. Focus on swatching your markers. Then focus on finding your references, and so on.
Now, stop stalling and go do whatever Step 1 is for you. Hell, do Step 0.5.
