Making Peace With My Imperfection
Like most of us, I fret about what’s ‘good enough’, and it costs me confidence and creativity. I can get rigidly addicted to the idea of how my efforts should turn out. Then I fail to express something deep and rich from my heart and mind. I still can be fearful of giving a talk (even when I was invited by a warm, eager audience!) lest I forget my speech and have to ‘go rogue’, make a poor word choice, speak too fast, and so on. But I’m getting too old to fear my imperfection! It steals too much of my life. And I’m learning that although we live in intolerant times (both on the Right and the Left), being authentic is essential or I’ll never take any creative risks.
Last holiday season, I made my Dad a very imperfect tabletop Nativity creche. He had just the people and animals, and the Baby Jesus, but no little barn for them. I had, serendipitously, collected small pieces of tree bark over the summer, and got an idea. I knew I could never do a perfect job, and was making this for a man who built our family home from scratch. Having his spirit but not his skills, I had to give myself permission to enjoy the project. And without the burden of my ego running the project, I really did have a lovely time, hours of it, at my workbench. I hope you enjoy my video! And I hope you give yourself permission to create from your heart.