Have anxiety ever stopped you? And did you overcome it?

[pickyknots]

@Solne

It happens a lot that when I watch an interview of a popular author or movie director (or in any creative field), I love what they make and I think that they are a very confident person to have come this far, but they end up saying they are very scared to disappoint people, and have to fight this feeling of being illegitimate.

Actors are experts at the “fake til you make it”. Many of them even admit it openly

@Solne

I think you should do whatever you feel like doing. I guess it’s not for no reason you started, so if you enjoy it, just do it. If people liked what you previously made, it obviously means you can do it good. I think if only a few people like what I make, it’s already a victory. I guess it can be very hard to receive negative opinions, especially if you worked hard on it, but in fact they are just opinions, and as people have various tastes, there will always be people who like it and people who don’t like it. We are all unperfect humans. Maybe it’s better to concentrate on people who liked it, and use negative reviews to improve (if they are pertinent of course).

Very well said!

[Solne]

@pickyknots

This will stop you from creating!! Making mistakes is part of the process, never be afraid to fail - use failure as an opportunity for learning. Omg I can’t begin to tell you how MUCH changing to this attitude helped me. I used to think similarly and it brought me zero, no creations, just fear! And you know what? There will always be someone you will disappoint. Plain and simple. So get creating and don’t think about what they’ll think. Best to fail but creating, than not creating at all

It is true, and we have to remember that being scared to fail has been taught to us. I don’t know if it’s the same for you all, but I realized that when I was at school, they were making failing so dramatic and serious. It can totally stop us from doing things. It can be our surroundings too, and it helps to be surrounded by people who encourage us instead of judging us. Whatever we do, we have to remember that it is okay and normal to fail.

[MakesbyMalin]

This post is so wonderful, thank you so much for writing it out! And yes, this:

@Solne

have to fight this feeling of being illegitimate

is usually called the impostor syndrome; and it is truly a major thing in all creative arts! Even Neil Gaiman has said something like “some day, someone will come knock at my door and say, ‘You’re not allowed to do this anymore, because you’re a fraud’, and they would have a point.” --He’s a really funny guy, though. I guess I’m deflecting, because I think that most people who feel like that are the bigger people in the art industry, not people with 200 people (at the time) following the story
But it likely happens to most people–except for me with crochet and other hand-made items, just like you, haha.

@Solne

I think we also tend to take it too seriously. Art is for fun, there is no big responsibilities. You are not a doctor, having people’s life on your shoulders, or anything like that (well I don’t know, maybe you are ^^'). If you fail, then people will just go and read something else. They could be disappointed, and so what ? It’s nothing dramatic. They could be disappointed in one thing you did, and love another thing you did. Your job is to create, and if you have done the best in your point of view, and had fun making it, this is great, and this is enough. Give what you have if you feel like doing so, and what happens next is never a serious risk. It is okay to fail. If people don’t like it, if it has flaws, or if they’re just not receptive to it, it’s okay. It’s the “risk” of this job, and I guess we all have to accept this aspect of it in order to create something.

This is very wise, and you make very good points (and no, I’m not a doctor by any means, even though I’ve heard surgeons are helped by knitting/crocheting )

I’m going to write some of these points down so I can return to them when I need them, so thank you so much

@pickyknots

So your creativity doesn’t stop at crochet

I wish it did; life would be much simpler

@pickyknots

Lots of people wish they even had an audience to start with! So it’s very positive to see there are people who care to check back your story. Being remembered is an achievement in itself!

Well, that’s true! But it’s the crash-and-burn part that I’m scared of And the feeling of never being good enough, I suppose Enough instances of that in your life, and you start to avoid what can cause those feelings–but on the contrary, I went into writing with the aim of making a living writing books, fully aware of what was to come and needing a thick skin–only for it to spin around and land on my own insecurities rather than anything else >__<‘’

@pickyknots

take a moment to remember why you started writing that story altogether

That somehow brings me a feeling of melancholy! And it’s stellar advise. That sentence alone is actually helping quite a bit–sometimes the reason you began at all is overshadowed by what came after, so thank you so, so much!

@pickyknots

Sometimes we need a bit of an internal soliloquy to find out what’s making us so anxious that stops us from creating. A good friend helps too! No matter how you decide to approach it and what perspective you decide to take, anxiety is counterproductive and affects our health

Wow, I learned a new word Thank you for that! And yes, it’s kind of weird how much we (I) let that singular feeling take over sometimes.

@pickyknots

So get creating and don’t think about what they’ll think. Best to fail but creating, than not creating at all

That’s definitely true!

@Solne

but I realized that when I was at school, they were making failing so dramatic and serious. It can totally stop us from doing things.

You make a really great point here as well! All my creative writing, from “normal” school to university has been graded, both by peers and teachers. It’s bound to have had an effect on the feelings around the writing (and especially since I do most of my writing in English rather than my native language). I never really thought about that!

I think I’ll need a serious talk with myself, gain that new perspective that I need
Thank you so much for all your help

[SabrinaRT]

I’m also an anxious person. And I don’t want to let certain people in my life down. My husband and I have discussed at length my need to make those people happy and do everything the ask of me. Both my husband and myself have said that I know I shouldn’t care what they think but I do. I have never gotten to the point that I quit (at least not in the last 10 years anyway), but I have on many occasions worked myself until I was ill. Which doesn’t take much. I had a massive stroke back in September of 2016, so I have constant fatigue. The stroke has also left me with frequent migraines. Plus before the stroke I was already dealing with depression, anxiety, insomnia, degenerative disc disease, and osteoarthritis in all of my joints. And since my stroke I’ve been diagnosed with tendinitis in both hands, and a severe iron deficiency. So I am in constant pain, and am always exhausted. But feel this constant pressure to crochet as much as I possibly can. We sell everything we make. We do farmers’ markets, and have regular customers that we do orders for. And over the past year it has been almost completely me making items for our weekly markets, and completely me do personal orders. So I have felt even more pressure to get things done. I have had my husband call my Mum (I do the markets with her, and my eldest sister also does the market, and my other 2 sisters make items to sell at the markets) to tell her I was too sick to attend the market about half a dozen times in the last year. So year round we have a market every Saturday. Then for 10 weeks in the summer we do another market that runs on Thursdays. Also during the summer we do a special market that runs the Sunday’s of long weekends (so 4 markets a summer). I am constantly burning myself out, but don’t know how to get out of this cycle, so I just keep going.

I know this doesn’t answer your question at all. But thought I’d share so that you know you’re not alone.

[Mossypaws]

Ive gotten so scared I did something wrong or had the wrong stitch count that ive unraveled the whole thing and started over.

[Gardengothdesigns]

Story of my life tbh. I was pressured into visual art, mostly sketching. I was pretty good at it but then i just got so stressed about it when i started doing it as a subject in highschool.
I quit in year 10 and haven’t done much since.