Let Fear Become Your Friend

“I’m sitting here a week before my first big gig, a magazine shoot. I’ve only been shooting 2 years, about 6 months at the sort of level I’d class as “semi pro”. And I’ve been given a chance that not many others would, yet im sitting here doubting my ability! Thinking what am I doing im out of my own depths? Maybe I should quit! How did you take it before your first major shoot? Did you have the same nerves and emotions?”

This question came in recently via email. Seemed like a good one to share.

How did I handle it? Did I have the same nerves and emotions?

Hell yes, I was scared shitless.

But weren’t we all scared the first time we did anything of substance? You can even take ‘substance’ out of the equation entirely….[click the ‘continue reading’ link below]—

…I was scared the first time I rode a bike, drove a car, sang karaoke, and kissed a girl at the Skate King roller rink.

Fear–most certainly in art–can be an amazing motivator if you can harness the nasty side of it. The key is repetition. The more you shoot, the more art you make, the more things you send out into the world, the more gigs you get under your belt, the more mistakes you make, the more you fail, the harder you fail, the more you learn, the more comfortable you become.

And when you start feeling too comfortable? That’s when you do something for the first time all over again. Let fear become your friend.

And so it goes.

Which reminds me, here’s an interesting book: Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
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