Wednesday, April 16, 2008






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Hope you enjoy another critter - still a few more to pull out of the vault yet, keep checkin' back!



The thought for the day in my Devotional Day Planner says this:

Galatians 6:4

Do your own work well,

and then you will have something to be proud of.

But don’t compare yourself with others. (CEV)

Then this thought is tagged on:

When you take responsibility for your spiritual direction, you grow. When you spend your time comparing your growth with someone else’s, you stop growing. Take pride in who God created you to be. How would you describe your growth – spiritually speaking?

I’ve been ‘chewing’ on this since I read it. And its timely – seems every which way I turn, this very subject was on the tip of my conscience to blog about. Have you ever worked so very hard on something, and then you just get to a point where you feel you have turned out your best work and so you’re excited to share. You feel confident and have a deep sense of accomplishment. Then you look around. And you see that though your best is GOOD – its not THE BEST, and you know your work may NEVER be THE BEST.

It’s so easy to lose hope and perspective at this point. If you focus on how your work is COMPARED TO OTHERS then you will lose all sense of objectivity and your work will suffer if you don’t get yourself in check. I think this is normal. One time, I showed an artist friend, a video of Akiane Kramarik – the young artist who, at 12 years old, can paint probably better than I ever could in my life. When I showed my friend the talent this impressive young lady has, my friend did not respond as anyone else I’d shown. Mixed in with her awe, which was the normal reaction, was a sense of complete disappointment. She said that after seeing what this mere child could do, it took away her desire to paint.



Wow – I had not thought about the possibility of this happening. But really, I can empathize. I know as an artist, I go through both the highs and lows. When I’m in a creative high, I can do ANYTHING – the creativity just flows, but watch out when I hit a low. All it takes is for one negative critique, and I’m ready to toss the brushes!

The funny thing is that when I create, just for the love of creating, I enjoy the process as much as the outcome. And what’s more interesting is the works that I created in love, and enjoyed making, though they may not be what I would consider my ‘BEST WORK’ are usually the ones that seem to ‘sell’. See, when you compare yourself to others, you will ALWAYS fall short.

If you compare yourself to others, you will be discouraged from reaching your potential. If I compare myself to others I may as well not run a race-I am definitely not fast enough to ever ‘win. I won’t sing – boy, I would not even make a karaoke song sound good, I would not design – every time I see other’s designs I feel so unworthy to be included to create!

This does not mean I don’t beat myself up – I’m guilty too, but being reminded by a scripture such as this is good for me. What about you, do you beat yourself up too? What about?

Whenever I have found that I have blundered or that my work has been imperfect, and when I have been contemptuously criticised and even when I have been overpraised, so that I have felt mortified, it has been my greatest comfort to say hundreds of times to myself that ‘I have worked as hard and as well as I could, and no man can do more than this.’

Charles Darwin




10 comments:

  1. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! How you hit the soft spot this morning- LOL
    Yup- seems like it was written for me today- it's sooo easy to fall into this trap! And I'm guilty of it too! It's the same when playing golf too- well i suppose any sport-LOL
    Sending hugs for the motivation this morning!
    much love
    MEEE

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  2. A lot of powerful food for thought. Thank you for sharing - I too get very discouraged. I am not a designer, I just plug away at making layouts. I get quite excited about some of them but do get discouraged often when I look at what others turn out.

    Reading this has made me see that whatever I turn out, if I am happy with it, then it is good!

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  3. My goodness, how i LOVE your blog!! :D You write SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WELL!! Do ya want the truth or just what i portray to others? LOL ok ok both are the same! DH says i could NEVER play poker without showing EVERYTHING on my face! lol Yes, i, too, am guilty of comparing myself to others! thought it was just human to do so or something 'raised' in me.lol but i DO work on myself spiritually DAILY! i catch myself sometimes and rethink things so i am NOT comparing to others, reminding myself that we are all unique with different talents. but DH says, also that i am way too hard on myself about EVERYTHING, so since meeting him, i have tried to cut myself some slack and not beat myself up as much. oh and i am a WORRY wart too, but working on it! lol BIG HUGS, Barb and thank you sooo veryyy much for keeping us thinking and helping us work out this thing called humankind :D LOVE YA!! Have a BEAUTIFUL day!! oh and thank you for visiting me blog and ALWAYS leaving SUNSHINE! HUGS!!!!!!!!! :D

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  4. Good Afternoon Barb:)
    Wow! I thought I was the only one that felt that way.:) I look at all the stuff designers are making and think..what am I doing trying to keep up?:) You don't know how many times I wanted to throw in the towel..but figure if even one person downloads my stuff and has fun with it..that makes me happy...cause I have made them happy.:)
    I have big bruises from kicking myself in the butt.:)It's not bad to be different.:)Can you imagine what the scrapping world would be like if we all made the same thing over and over? BORING!!:) God made us all uniquely different.If we were all eyes..where is the foot?KWIM? Even the uncomely parts are necessary.Try getting along without your innards...parts that aren't seen but necessary for the body to function.And just to leave you with this thought..and something you can relate to...some of the most famous artists...painted things that were out of the ordinary.Paint "YOU" ..who you are...what you like...and let us see it!:)I'm sure we will love it!:)

    Hugs,
    Valinda

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  5. awesome ..and yes I am one of those want to please everybody ...and do everything to the best which it isn't and I still get into trouble ...thanks for the polar bear ...and the awesome words

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  6. Good Morning again Barb:)
    You can't have too many awards..so come to my blog and get a duplicate of the one someone else gave you.LOL

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  7. THank you for all these beautiful animals! I love them all! =)

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  8. check out the AWARD just for you on my blog ...hope I did it right ...

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  9. Morning Barb!!!!
    Sorry that its been awhile since I commented here even though I still make a quick stop by every day!!!!!
    I havent DL any of your AWESOME animals since I have them from before when you offered them!!!! LOL
    When you have a spare moment check out my blog to see how I spent my Sat this past weekend!!!!!!!!!
    HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  10. What a poignant thought. I find that I am often cluttering up my mind wondering how to do what the other designers who are successful are doing, and sometimes that itself puts me in a rut. Being creative to me is all about being myself, and this is a good reminder for me.

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