Begin Again
Beginning.
What is it about beginning that can be so tricky for some of us? For others I suppose it is ending that is the hard part. Perhaps they are really the same thing. Fear, having its way again.
Beginning a creative venture, putting something out into the world, seems so fraught with issues, possibilities for failure, that I often stop myself before I begin. It is the problem with foresight - seeing so far ahead that I begin to question things I have no business questioning yet, things I couldn’t possibly have answers to - yet. Or perhaps trying to define more clearly the parameters of the project, leaves me sure I have no parameters, the whole thing an amorphous blob, and so I give up, certain you cannot put an amorphous blob out into the world.
There is a great deal of advice out there that suggests you get very clear about what it is you are offering: What is your niche? What is your focus? What is your mission statement? Who is your very, very specific audience? How old are they? What do they watch? What do they wear? Where do they shop? And on and on. We are told we need to be able to answer these questions before we begin or our venture will surely fail. And yet…
Imagine doing that at the beginning of a relationship - trying to define it on the first date, or even beforehand over text. A disastrous move by anyone’s estimation. It’s safe to say that relationship would never get started. How could we possibly define what the relationship will mean to us, how we will define it before we even know the other person involved? Most of us would run very quickly away from anyone trying to pin us into a commitment in a pre-first date text! Imagine trying to narrow down the options for who the other person can be and then projecting a version of yourself that you believe will appeal to them. Again - disastrous! A sure-fire recipe for an inauthentic connection.
And so it is with our creativity. If given the space and time to express itself, something magical and beautiful may develop, but if we try to define it, prescribe it, force it into being a certain way, it will most certainly wither on the vine before ever truly blooming. Oops, I switched metaphors. Maybe because it is spring and things are blooming all around me, and they are not planning exactly how they will bloom and unfold, they are just blooming, allowing nature to take its course. The result of this relaxed allowing is glorious, riotous explosions of flowers and leaves and life. So perhaps allowing nature to take its course, allowing the beginning to be simply a beginning, could work for me and for you, too.
What if we just take one step at a time, and try to simply be ourselves, express our truth, as it is in this moment. Allow ourselves to stumble, to change directions, to bloom in all our riotous, wild, imperfect beauty.
Let’s begin again, and then again once more. For, surely, that is growth, and growth is what life is all about.
You might also like
