Long time no see! It’s been a minute (read: over six months) since I wrote a newsletter for all of you. A part of that is life hitting the fan, but a bigger part of it is just writer’s block and insecurity 😅
I’ve been so nervous about writing something bad that I just figured it was better to not write anything at all. That kind of fear of failure is a terrible thing to give into, so I figured we’d talk about it.
Why are we so afraid to fail?
Failure is just a part of life. Like it or not, you’re seldom going to succeed at things (much less do them perfectly) the first time you try.
There are a few reasons we all tend to avoid failure:
Social consequences: failing in public is often painfully embarrassing. Getting the answer wrong when called on in a classroom, or falling off of your bike in public, is pretty humiliating.
Loss of self esteem: Sometimes when you fail, you start to wonder if you’re good enough, or capable, not just at that particular task but at any task.
Financial consequences: Failure can have really tangible and life-threatening financial consequences when you lose a job or end up in debt.
All of these reasons are absolutely valid. We feel fear for a reason— it’s there to help us, to prevent us from making poor choices and endangering ourselves.
But sometimes that fear isn't truly rational, and avoiding tasks because of it only serves to hold us back from living up to our true potential.
Your fear of failure is holding you back
I talk to artists all the time, and they always talk about how intimidating starting something new is, and how worried they are that they’re going to fail.
It doesn’t matter if it’s pursuing a degree, starting a YouTube channel, or working in a sketchbook. They’re so caught up in this fear of failing that they never start at all.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely caught up in that fear too.
But giving into it has a cost.
All of your amazing ideas for art, your groundbreaking concepts for amazing YouTube videos or graphic novels or public installations, all of those creative projects that could have had an enormous amount of impact, none of them are ever made.
I think that’s a very hefty price to pay.
Enough talk — here’s how you overcome it
You just do it.
You just do the thing that you’re so afraid of, the thing that you’re terrified of failing at. You do that thing.
And you fail. Maybe not entirely, but at least a little bit. And when the world doesn’t end and your life isn’t ruined, you start to think to yourself “hey, that wasn’t so bad”
And then you keep trying and failing and sometimes not failing and you realize that this is just what life IS. Life is failing.
But like we mentioned earlier, sometimes it isn’t that easy. Failure sometimes has costs.
In those situations, you need to lower the stakes.
If you’re nervous about launching an online shop because you might spend hundreds on unsold inventory, go small. Take in pre-orders for your work (like prints) so you have a better idea of the demand.
If you’re afraid of posting videos on YouTube because you’re worried friends and family might find them, don’t use your real name. OR, realize that the internet is a very big place and people are very likely truly not paying attention to what you do.
What’s new in the studio
I’ve been working on a lot of new pieces lately (such as the WIP pictured above) and trying some new techniques I’m pretty excited about.
Some of these projects turn out to be total failures, but some of them are actually kinda working out!
I’ll admit, i’m still working on being comfortable sharing my failures with people (especially when it comes to my art) so you’ll likely only see the successes for now.
But it’s an exciting and busy time here in the studio!
To give you a bit of a sneak peek at my future plans: I’m currently working on testing out a custom brush set, sketching some concepts for a blanket, and practicing hand-lettering in oil paint to eventually design my own font.
I’ll probably be doing an entire update on all of that in my next newsletter! If you’d like to catch up on what i’ve been up to, consider watching my recent studio vlog.
I’m hoping to make more of these on a regular basis again (I know I keep saying this lol but I really do mean it! it’s just tricky to make work with my schedule) so feel free to reply to this email and let me know what you would like to see more of, or even just let me know what you’re personally afraid of failing at.
That’s all for me this week, see you in the next one (hopefully soon!!)
