And here we are again. Another blank page on my computer screen is staring me in the face at the tail end of summer. The leaves are already turning brownish, the days have already shortened, and that nice summer shine has the sting of a cold breeze that chills you to the bone. And all the while the cursor keeps blinking, waiting for me to let go of perfectionism and just write. Just immersing myself in the creative process without overthinking it.
Letting go of perfectionism by embracing random intro’s
Sometimes my intro’s might seem a little random because they are. I know. When a blank page is staring me in the face I don’t always know what to write. So I start with the randomness of the moment – like looking outside at the tree in front of my window and remembering that it was so cold when I went outside to put out the trash this morning
The first sentence you put to paper doesn’t have to be brilliant.
So many of you, including me, put so much pressure into concocting the perfect first sentence that you never get to writing the damn thing at all. You think that writers write everything in one go and boom it’s perfect. But it’s not. There is a lot of repetition, randomness, deleting, and re-writing.
Don’t stop writing that post because you feel it’s imperfect. You never know who needs to hear what you have to say, however imperfect it has been written down. Besides, it’s not like once it’s written down you cannot alter it. But first, sit down and write, no deleting allowed.
Sucking at something can be utile.
And this basically goes for anything, creative or otherwise. Like, getting started with working out, maybe you feel like you should be able to work out for an hour, do the perfect yoga poses, whatever… While instead, you should just start with 10 seconds of shaky tree pose.
The same can be said when staring at a blank canvas with an empty paint brush in your hand. Sometimes you just have to pick a colour and make a movement and see what happens on the canvas. And then another one, and another.
There’s beauty, vulnerability, and a certain ballsiness in daring to be imperfect.
Perfecting your craft will come later. The outcome will come later and maybe that isn’t even the point. Maybe the point is doing it in the first place – embracing the creative process. Just enjoying the hell out of doing the writing or doing the painting or doing the work out instead of being so focused on what will happen next. And the doing doesn’t have to be an hour, it can just be 30 seconds, 1 slash of paint, 1 silly sentence and then you see if you can go for another 30 seconds. First, you gotta start where you are and you mostly do that before you are ready.
Adventure Awaits when you just jump feet first!
Love,
Susanna
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