Sometimes starting a blog post is a very hard thing to do. It might take five minutes for me to write the first sentence. And sometimes the first sentence is all I get.
I’m not much of a writer. My brain is filled up with thoughts, ideas, feelings, insecurities, and a whole bunch of nonsense. I can scarcely filter out what I want to say. It’s hard to communicate the inner workings of my brain in a way that people can understand.
Anyone else feel that way?
With anything I do, my inner critic is up to the challenge to discount any talent I may have. I’ve been feeling that a lot lately. (And, just to clarify, I’m not saying this to fish for compliments/praise/etc. I’m just rambling, like I do a lot!) I need to stop having such high expectations for myself. I constantly compare myself to others and (like the quote above) it kills my inspiration and drive to do anything.
I was listening to Kendyll Hillegas talk about self-doubt and she perfectly summed up what I was feeling (with a bit of paraphrasing): comparison is the death of creativity.
When I do look at other artists’ work, I often feel very inspired and motivated to create work that is amazing like theirs, but when I don’t create a masterpiece, the vicious cycle of comparison begins.
In hindsight, the comparison isn’t relevant, because my style of drawing is so different, and even my experience is so limited. It’s like comparing apples and oranges.
So if you take anything away from this rambling, I’d say to be kind to yourself. Give yourself a break from the constant pressures of social media, perfectionism, and your inner critic.
Hope this helped you out! I know it made me feel better 🙂
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