Over the past two years, I have spent so much time getting to know my characters, Kitty and Corgi. Last year, I drew them for Instagram every single day. It was a long discovery process. Recording those time-lapses could be nerve-racking at times because every mistake, every problem, every wrong line, and every hesitation was recorded for everyone on Instagram to see. (Which, according to my view count on each of my videos, was in the thousands! Often around 25,000 people for just one reel!)
I realized quickly that people don’t care about the mistakes. Most of the time, people are either mesmerized by the creation process or they’re invested in the story you’re telling.
For this blog, I’ve decided to push past my discomfort of sharing imperfect art, and am including little sketches and doodles to help illustrate my points :)
It seems to me that being comfortable with being uncomfortable is just kind of a rule of life. I have so many interests that I pursue - including art, writing, language learning, and working out. I have learned that it is the most important part of EVERY process, of EVERY pursuit, and of life in general. The only reason that we have issues with it as we get older, is that we forgot how normal it was when we were younger - before we mastered anything at all. As babies, we had to learn everything from ZERO. But you don’t remember that.
In art, you have to come to terms with making mistakes, the slow learning process, spending a long time on one piece of art, the frustration, going through an ugly phase, and overcoming the learning curve of each medium you try (digital art, watercolors, alcohol markers, colored pencils, 3D, etc). And beyond that, learning anatomy, drawing animals, humans, hands, portraits, architecture, flowers — there will always be a learning curve. It’s best to learn to enjoy the process and love the learning.
In storytelling, to finish a story, you have to endure the discomfort of not yet knowing where the story is going — and discovering it along the way. Even worse, when you write intense trials for your characters to endure, you yourself suffer with them! It’s uncomfortable to put them through those circumstance, because you yourself have to go through it with them. (But the same goes for reading or watching movies. Think about it. How many times have you read a book or watched a show, and the plot thickened, but you pushed through because you HAD to know what happened next?)
When working out, they say that pain is weakness leaving the body. I’d like to take that a step further because I have learned that if you lack strength, pain is just weakness. Full stop.
It’s quite literally a sign of weakness. You don’t need to stretch if you have back pain from sitting at your desk job too long. Your back is already stretched, and your front muscles are over-activated and pulling forward. Your pain is telling you that you need to STRENGTHEN your back muscles. Another example is if you don’t use your legs, they will atrophy. When you start doing leg day for the first time, you might feel like you’re not going to survive. But those intense feelings of being weak, having jelly legs, training, and suffering — that uncomfortable phase is what makes you strong.
You’ll never be able to do a pull-up or push-up if you don’t go through that uncomfortable process of strengthening those weak muscles, failing, falling, and trying over and over again until your muscles shake. And then one day, you’ll realize that you’ve become strong, and what used to make your legs shake feels effortless.
And finally, language learning is so intensely uncomfortable but you have to make mistakes, speak out loud, and risk sounding silly so that you can eventually sound natural and be comfortable with the language. You can never sound like a native if you don’t speak out loud or practice speaking with others.
Recently, with my hands finally healed and recovered, I’ve been gearing up to start a new video series on Instagram and YouTube. I’ve been nervous about it, but I’ve known since the beginning of the year that I wanted and needed to do it. I’ve written so many children’s stories, and now it’s time to illustrate them! But if I want to share my stories, I have to grow that audience first. I’ve been recording Draw With Me videos for Youtube, and will get back to making reels for Instagram — but I have to admit I’ve been fighting to ignore the discomfort. I decided to just do it. Push past it and just go for it.
Because nothing ever came out of comfort zones.
Learning and growing (mentally, physically, emotionally, artistically) can be uncomfortable. Or it can be joyful, fun, exciting — it all depends on your mindset :)
So, my challenge to you today (and to myself) is to go out and make yourself uncomfortable. Don’t stay where you are. That feeling of weakness, discomfort, and “I can’t do it “(yet) is telling you that there is potential. You just set your mind to it and push forward. Before you know it, you’ll be comfortable with your new skills.
Love,
Emma
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