Leap..............

............and the net will appear.

This is on Suze Weinberg's blog header. 

And every time I check to see what Suze has created, I take a loooong moment and stare at this saying.

It hits home for me because it is the complete opposite of my natural instinct.  I fret, over think, fret some more, then worry.  I wish I could say that was just over the "big" things in life, but nope.  I do the same when creating. 

I fret that I'm not using the "IT" product.
I over think each and every detail.
I fret again that my style, or lack of a style, will mean no one will like what I have made.
I worry that I will come up majorly short on what is expected of me.

I've been told I need a good cyber slap to snap me out of such thoughts.  Probably true.  But, those nagging thoughts creep back in on the next project.

Once upon a life time ago, I was an art major.  I was even accepted to a large university for their art program. 

But, I chickened out.  I had always attended very small private church schools.  When my best friend asked me if I wanted to be her roommate at yet another small private parochial college, I jumped on the chance.  I was too scared to face something new.  I worried that I would never find the art building on a campus that made up most of the town.  I was afraid that someone would tell me I had absolutely no business being in the art program.  I was afraid I'd never find my way off the campus, if and when I ever found the spot I was suppose to be at.

Instead, I attended the small church affiliated college that had an equally small art department.  One that didn't really push you competitively to create outside your comfort zone.  But I was "comfortable".  Until a friend (who DID take the leap and attended a public university) showed me what was required of her in her art classes. 

Insert REALITY here____________________.

There was no way that I was ever going to make it out in the "real" world with the art degree I was working on.  I was being graded on "my own improvements" and getting assignments in on time.  She was being graded on what innovated ideas she used in her assignments that were "out of the box".  And against what others were doing.

So I changed majors.  A choice, again, made by fear of the unknown. But that is a different topic, for another time.  The point is, I was afraid to LEAP. 

This year I want to LEAP. 

 I want to leap off the cliff and create what my eyes and mind tell me is ME.
I want to leap and be an outlaw, of sorts, that creates with what I like, versus what everyone else likes. 
I want to leap and try some new things that are not just paper craft related. 

Leap...............and the net will appear. 

The first step is the biggest one. One......two........three.........JUMP!