Art

I've been in the process of moving the last few weeks, and sorting through stuff to get rid of. A couple days ago, I found some paintings and drawings I hadn't seen for about twenty years.
The thing that struck me most about seeing my teenaged art was how surprisingly good it was. I remember, at the time, being terribly disappointed in all of it. But now I realize it's actually pretty good stuff.

What I've been thinking is that, removed from the immediacy of remembering what I wanted it to look like, the disappointment is gone. Years later, all that's left is what was actually produced. And, even at the time, no one else looking at it had any idea what image was in my head. They only judged it then by what it was, the same way I do now.

It's easy, when you're given to perfectionism, to dismiss what you produce because it will never match the ideal you imagine. Even worse, it's easy to never produce anything at all, because you know it won't live up to that ideal. If you aren't careful, you can waste years being unproductive.

It's easy to fall prey to this, whether you're talking about art or the art of living. People talk about the novels they've never written, the promotions they've never tried for, the relationships they gave up on. It's not just running out of time to do things, but opting out of a meaningful engagement in life. And, as the years pass, like Mark Twain said, "you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do."

So, keep striving. Be productive. Chances are, you're doing better than you think.