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Thread Incoming: I& #39;ve been listening to a ton of artist interview podcasts lately which has been inspiring and refreshing. Until now however, this is something that I& #39;ve actively avoided or put off. Why? /1
Hearing about the successes of others, while it can be inspiring, also made it really hard not to compare myself to them and focus on where I fell short. There are so many things that I struggle with that I previously didn& #39;t hear people talk about very much. /2
While it is inspiring to hear the highlight reels at first, slowly those success stories started to eat away at me, exacerbated by social media. For years I thought, whats wrong with me? What do these people have that I don& #39;t have? /3
I thought, I don& #39;t have the drive, I don& #39;t have the confidence. I have some skill and so many visions, but I have missing pieces. I find it so hard to get myself to work. /4
I& #39;ll never forget the time I asked an artist I really looked up to at a panel in my early years if they ever struggled with self-doubt, discipline or motivation, and if so how did they overcome it? /5
That artist was one of those super "Type A" personalities, who was able to work seemingly tirelessly on an inexhaustible inner drive to my eyes. An incredibly inspiring powerhouse of an artist. /6
They replied that they didn& #39;t really relate, never struggled with motivation and joy in their work, and said that if I did perhaps I should think on if working as a freelance artist was right for me. /7
Hearing that hit me hard. In hindsight, from their own perspective, I can see where they were coming from. But what I was unable to realize then was that their perspective on the subject wasn& #39;t relevant to me - because we were just two vastly different people. /8
Fast forward to more recently, I think that experience still echoed inside me for far too long and in too profound a way. I still wanted to be a professional artist, but I was plagued by the idea that I inherently wasn& #39;t made for this. /9
Then I recently took a plunge on a whim, pulled in by one of my all time favorite artists James Gurney, and started listening to the podcast "Your Creative Push". As a result, I& #39;ve heard so many stories from amazing artists who have shared both their joys AND their struggles. /10
Time and time again I& #39;m hearing myself in them; similar issues and pitfalls that I have. Many of these artists are just like me in so many different ways and they& #39;re MAKING IT. /11
They have found ways to work around, fill in, or build bridges over their "missing pieces" through practice and time. They& #39;ve just plain put in the hours and years of practice it takes to improve, found new ways to learn, and have kept actively learning. /12
If I do that work through studies, sideways approaches at my touchier issues, learn myself, break it down day-by-day, step-by step, I will achieve what I aim at with time. Actualizing in my mind my desired future not as an "if" but a "when" was profound. /13