We've talked often here about not letting perfectionism hold you back and jumping headfirst into creating, which this article describes really well in this analogy (emphasis mine):
"You have this dream, this idea, of this awesome thing for years you think, oh I’m going to do this epic adventure. And it’s going to be so great. And the truth is, no matter what you do, it will never be as great as it as it is in your mind. So you’re really setting yourself up for failure in some ways.
I used to go snowboarding a lot of times in the winter. And I used to like hitting all the jumps. And when I would go down the mountain, I would notice a bunch of young snowboarders who were waiting at the top of the jumps. They may look like they’re waiting their turn. But in fact, that they’re waiting there because they’re actually kind of afraid to hit that jump. And what they don’t realize is that over time, they’re getting colder, they’re physically getting colder. The idea debt of having to make that jump and land it and be impressive is getting greater. So that by the time they actually do it, they’re probably not going to fulfill that dream.
And so one thing I learned is to just hit the jump or just pass it. Just do it in the moment. Or not at all. And so you can move on and wait for the next time.
I try not to to look at the thing I’m going to do as being this amazing great grand thing. Because if I do that, I will probably not achieve what I’m trying to do. It would be like looking at the sun."
the second part of the article zooms in on the second option - not doing it. many ideas can hang around in our heads, gathering folders of lore and emotional ties, and we can grow out of the actual story long before we get the chance, or the confidence, to put pen to paper.
i mainly wanted to share this article, because i think its interesting and well written, but itd also be cool to hear how people have dealt with times theyve taken the second path and not made a story theyve dreamed of making. did you break it up and put it back together as something more 'you'? did a novel turn into a comic, a movie into a short story? or have some things just been boxed up and left for dead?
