Putting "Embracing the Mess" to the Test

For a good solid year, I work my way through the Be Messy Journal that Aletheia and I published almost two years ago now. I was faithful to the task. I practiced letting go or perfection and telling myself to just let it flow out of me. And I did. And it worked. I saw tremendous growth and a smoother connection between my brain and my hand.

But that project ended a while ago.

After a serious conversation with myself where I laid down some hard-core real-talk, I did one of my first pieces of artwork outside of the journal’s pages. I had no excuse really. I had authentic watercolor paper, paints, brushes, and a whole pinterest board of subject matter. I was the only thing holding myself back. I could easily tell myself, “oh you have never had any classes in watercolor before. You don’t know the first thing about it. If you make a mistake, it isn’t like oil or acrylic paints where you can just paint over it.”

Instead, I said, “Heather. Get over yourself. This does not need to be something that you have to hang on a wall. It is an opportunity to have to try, experiment, and learn. Read a post about traps that beginners fall into and go from there. Plus you have nothing but time to work on it so just go for it and see what happens.”

So this is what happened. I messed up. I learned and I exposed the lies I tell myself to the truth I know deep down. I can do it and I can do it for myself. No one else, just me.