Just came across these images by Alexandra Valenti via It's About What You Leave Behind, one of my favorite Tumblrs.
We went on a quick trip this weekend and surprised ourselves with how refreshed we felt when we returned home. It's amazing how getting away for just a day can widen your perspective and re-focus your goals.
Mind if I wax a little personal? I have some creative projects and ideas that are scaring me to death—enough so I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger. They came to me last fall and I've stewed and sat on them for months. For too long. The fear of the unknown is rendering me immobile; the domains and URLS sit empty and untended.
So many are getting it done. My husband inspires me always with his ceaseless non-complaining and natural drive. He's a natural start-up entrepreneur: obsessed with learning, making "it" better, and working with smart people who inspire him. He and his Co-founder Jeremy and their super cool team are building a consumer tech product that's really amazing. I can't wait for its wide release within a few months. Tireless work, mind-bending smarts, and the confidence to challenge everything seem to be integral pieces to anything great.
The women behind Swiss Miss, Brain Pickings, Oh Joy, Design for Mankind, Design Mom, City Sage, Two Tiny Kitchens, Smitten Kitchen, Stephmodo, One Little Minute, Alt Design Summit and other blog conferences, A Cup of Jo, Fresh Exchange, Kelsey's Essentials, A Blog About Love, and so many others inspire me to be better and make a difference, however I choose to exhibit that effect. A start-up, a business, a blog, a move for social good, by being a community leader, creating children, building a home environment that's a love-filled refuge, being the best spouse/daughter/sister/friend/neighbor possible. Whatever it is. When I see fresh starts, communities with power, and ideas that can make the world a better place starting with people just like me, I think I can do it. However small. Among the giants, smaller bloggers and business owners and individuals are doing incredible things with bare bones budgets and extremely limited time. I can hardly let my ideas simmer and cool when I'm surrounded by so much inspiration and knowledge.
If my idea is personally meaningful, it's worth the work. And I should share boldly with the hope that it might be meaningful to someone else.
Have you ever had an idea, project, or event that scared you like crazy? As I wrote this, a flood of terrifying firsts came to mind. My first freelance writing project, first job out of college, first day at Penguin, first time quitting a job (This deserves a post. I'm off the charts scared every time I quit something.), first time driving in the city. There's too many to count! I can't wait to hear your tips on getting over the inability to act and your scariest to-dos you overcame.
Update: Thank you so much for the wonderful support and feedback! I appreciate it so much and really feel like even the process of writing this out helped me see there's no chance I'm not going forward with my creative project. Thank you again. Love how Original Archiving Co. readers and the creative community in general rallies. I've been asked by a few people to write a few more posts about the ups and downs of being a "creative", so I'll be be working on a few more essays on topics like knowing when to quit, the act of quitting (quitting deserves a two part series I think), collaborating nicely with your spouse, how I love working with designers, the story on how I became a copy writer in the first place, and what it's like to be married to a start-up guy. I'm excited.
