I’ve started playing with beads recently. There’s something relaxing in coming up with a design, then simply following it through, bead by bead until it’s finished.
I’ve completed three bracelets so far, and I have to say that the very first one took about 5xs longer than the others.
Not because it’s more complicated, but because I spent a ton of time trying to decide what I was going to do. (I should note that this was AFTER I bought a bunch of beads and beading supplies, so I had no problem committing to the “idea” of beading.)
I’ve realized this is a pattern for me – it’s never the IDEA of doing something creative that gives me pause – I have cabinets full of art supplies that will testify to that!
Instead, it’s the moment of sitting down and actually committing to doing the thing.
There’s something scary about beginning a creative project, and I think it’s summed up in this quote from Picasso — “Every act of creation begins with an act of destruction.”
We have to destroy the pure white canvas in order to make the first stroke of paint.
We have to destroy the clean rectangular block of clay in order to shape something new.
We have to destroy the perfectly strung cards of beads in order to string them together in a whole new way.
It’s that moment of destruction that causes us to hesitate, and the hesitation that causes Fear to awaken.
Our job as creative beings — (and yes, we are ALL creative beings!) — our job is to recognize the moment of hesitation, acknowledge the presence of Fear, and then begin the act of destruction.
It’s only in the destroying that something new can be born.
It’s only in choosing to move through the hesitation and fear of messing it up that we discover our own personal brand of magic. ✨💗✨