I get it. The pandemic has made a lot of us apathetic. It’s harder to get motivated when we can freely move around and so much of life has been put on hold. But I am here to tell you, staying active is more important than ever: for our mental, physical and emotional health.
No matter what you are doing in life, we all have things we like to do in our free time. I want to write a book, for example. But getting started is a daunting prospect for some. They get tied up in anxiety about wanting whatever they do to look a certain way, to come out a certain way. Whatever it is, it HAS to be great!
Guess what? This will stifle your creativity and make it much harder to get started. And you probably already know that from experience.
Done is better than good. Yes, we all want things to be good. But for every good book out there, there is a thousand that have never been done.
I see that everywhere – people who don’t start something because they don’t have confidence it will be good. Or they start and give up or stop. The thing is, it is never good in the beginning. Whether you want to train in martial arts, learn how to cook, do home renovations or be a guitar player, it doesn’t matter. It’s never good in the beginning, and you have to start somewhere. It is important to be pragmatic, which involves having perspective and recognizing, you will never be good in the beginning, but you get good by just starting and then practicing.
The more I write, the closer I get to finishing my book. I am terrible with grammar and spelling. Doesn’t matter. I write anyway. I don’t put myself down in the process. That is another impediment to creativity. As is splitting hairs over tiny details. It will hold you back.
So just get it done. You just have to practice. Showing up at class is the most important thing you can do – everything else is secondary. I am impressed by those who show up.
As your life approaches its finale, don’t let undone things haunt you on your death bed! You want to learn to swim? Sing? Build a canoe? Don’t wait. You know that old saying, life is too short.