Dream. Do the work. Challenge yourself. Take chances. Feel free to fail. Be yourself. Blaze your own path. Learn something new every day. Create great art. Do something amazing. These are all things I have written about doing and think we should all strive to do. The hard part, the part many of us continue to struggle with, is getting out of our own heads and actually doing them.
Even though we may not realize it, we spend a lot of our time comparing ourselves to others and doing what we think the world wants us to do. We become frustrated when we can't express what we want to express; when we can't enjoy doing things we think other people want us to do; when we just can't quite live up to the ideas we have planted in our heads of what we are supposed to be like. We worry about the things we feel we should be doing. We regret the things we did or didn't do. We start to have doubts when we see someone who is writing better than us or creating better art or taking more chances or doing anything we want better than us.
Instead of getting out there and doing what we should, we become paralyzed by over-analyzing. We allow our fears and doubts and frustrations to paralyze us and continue to have more fears or more doubts or more frustration. We aren't able to accomplish the things we want to accomplish because we are constantly worried about getting it wrong or not being able to do it. We become frustrated when we feel we aren't doing what adults should be doing or when we can't just keep on track or no one is reading our writing or no one is buying our art. We get scared because we don't know what we should be doing and instead of looking and trying new things, we stick with what we have, even though we know it isn't the path we are looking for. We freeze and allow more negativity to creep in.
To do anything that matters to you, you have to stop allowing the negativity to creep in. If you want people to read what you are writing, keep writing. If you want people to buy your art, keep creating and putting it into the world. If you want to blaze your own path, then keep dreaming and taking action. If you want to find what you love to do, you have to search for it. Ignore the frustrations and doubts and fears and just push forward. Stop assuming you know what other people think about who you are and what you do. Stop worrying. Stop the self-flagellation. It's good to critically think about what you do or who you are, but being overly critical or self-deprecating is just wrong. Stop letting this happen.
I know, you are saying this is easier said than done and you are right. Start by becoming more aware of what you are thinking and how you are feeling. Question yourself when you start to feel the frustration and doubts and fears. Don't berate yourself for feeling them, but question where they come from. Notice these feelings and allow your awareness to help dissipate them. Every time they pop up, continue to do this. Once we start eliminating this negativity, what can we accomplish? When we don't freeze from the negativity, there is nothing stopping us. It's about time we got out of our own heads and actually did something.
