brave enough to begin
“Doubt is all buckled up and coming with
we must choose to drive on.”
Life is a little like a cyclical series of goodbyes and hellos.
Endings, predictably bringing sadness, or maybe, much needed relief; and new beginnings, inviting in excitement, or maybe, sheer panic.
For many of us experiencing the rush of starting something new, there is nothing more foreboding than the feeling one gets when the mind starts to wander towards that one back corner, where Doubt has inherently set up camp..
Will I be bad at this?
What if I fail?
Will it be too difficult?
In the interest of practicing what one preaches, we will admit that we are no stranger to acknowledging Doubt’s base camp, particularly their wily and innovative ways of sewing uncertainty into creative pursuits. Doubt alone can have the power to be the catalyst of an endless supply of ends and beginnings, and not necessarily the good kind.
In light of being fully transparent, it’s happening right now, in fact, for us. Starting this very blog. This small, seemingly insignificant piece of writing has rendered us, two fully (kind of) grown, human-adult-people, feeling rather intimated at the enormity and mightiness of it all.
Will I be bad at this?
What if I fail?
Will it be too difficult?
..woof.
Thankfully, we have been here before. To introduce ourselves without specifically introducing ourselves, we are two creatives that have pursued careers in the entertainment business professionally for over a decade. Regardless of the doubt we’ve both encountered and wrestled with throughout our journeys, somehow, back then and still now, we have learned to not only accept, but embrace, having Doubt in the car.
That’s right.
Doubt is all buckled up and coming with.
we must choose to drive on.
Each day, we have a choice. No matter the size (both imagined, and actual) of our creative pursuits, our decision to drive on down the roads they call us to take, is ultimately what’s going to lead us to exactly where we’re meant to go.
There is no certainty in driving on. There will be goodbyes, there will be hellos. There will be more ends, more beginnings. The creative path is inherently uncertain, which can be why so many of us choose not to press forward on the path. An expensive choice.
The reality is, the only means of achieving certainty is in standing still; in letting Doubt, inherently, letting fear, dictate this choice. It’s in choosing inaction that will assure we stay exactly where we are. Creatively, personally, professionally.. We cannot grow if we choose not to venture. Certainty is comfortable, but is it ultimately more uncomfortable not to grow?
We cannot grow if we let Doubt dictate when we end, and if/when we begin again.
Throughout the years of our artistic endeavours, we have found great comfort in Stoicism. This philosophical way of life has guided us through some of the highest highs and lowest lows of our personal and professional lives, acting as a lighthouse of sorts. Stoicism has encouraged us to live a life of virtue, sharpening in us a dutiful sense of discipline and mental fortitude we would never could have found without it.
Seneca, an essential philosopher to the works in Stoicism, says:
“it’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”
There’s no perfect time to start. As they say (someone says it, promise)- yesterday is gone, and tomorrow isn’t promised.
..so what are you waiting for?
There is comfort in knowing what has come to an end is no longer for you, through both the sadness and relief that endings can bring. Because on the other hand, right now, you already have everything you need to begin anew.
Venture forward, regardless of the fear you may feel about the outcome. Let panic and excitement live together in tandem.
Grab the keys.
Get the snacks, Doubt’s carseat, and your all-time favourite albums for the trip.
Feel the fear, and do it anyway.
