Word-Less Wednesday
Giving yourself permission to suck at something + I photographed a dead bug
Issue #5/ Welcome to a new, regular feature of Good and Beautiful Things.
Word-less Wednesday: Less words, more art!
My main weekend newsletter is typically a personal essay centered around the messy interactions between beauty and the rest of my life (which includes parenting, chronic pain, and always dancing near the edge of a midlife crisis).
On Wednesdays, I’ve been experimenting with a shorter post that is driven more by art than words. Let me know what you think!
These are 3 pieces from a ‘zine I’m working on for a class assignment.
When I started the project last week I was excited. I cut up some hand-decorated papers and the potential of the small panels1 energized me.
Then I found my theme and sorted my words into eight panels.
I thought to myself:
This will be perfect for my next Word-less Wednesday.
Which immediately caused my initial joy to morph into intense pressure.
To be worthy of sharing it with others, the project has to turn out GREAT!
Fear took the upper hand and I left the project alone for days because anytime I looked at the panels on my desk, I thought:
What if it turns out terrible?
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Recently I listened to an interview with actor and director, Ethan Hawke. The host, Charlotte Alter, remarked on all of the different types of creative projects Hawke has worked on over the last several decades.
Host: How do you know when it’s time to try something new? And what if you suck at it?
(He answered without hesitation.)
Ethan Hawke: Well, you are going suck at it. Don’t worry about that. I mean you’ve got to suck at it. There’s no way to be good at anything without sucking. You gotta put in the practice. You gotta have the humility to say I’m not great. There’s no way to be great without saying I’m not great.
So how did I get my hands moving again? How did I move through the fear?
I released myself from the pressure of expecting a certain kind of result.
If it turns out terrible and I need to skip my Word-less Wednesday post for today, that’s okay. (And I meant it.)
Maybe it will turn out terrible or maybe it will turn out okay. Either way, this is the first one, I can always make more.
I sat down and got to work.
Once I got my hands moving, I made one piece I really liked and felt my chest puff out a little bit followed by three or four panels that were TERRIBLE.
But it was getting into the work and figuring out what I liked and didn’t like, that allowed me to start developing a vision for the overall project.
I plan to make some more bad pieces and hopefully also some good ones.
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Maybe you are stuck right now, too.
Maybe it’s not art.
Maybe it’s writing a newsletter, maybe it’s moving forward with a new job, maybe it’s a parenting decision, or starting a new friendship.
What if you take the pressure off?
And just start the thing without any expectations?
Maybe you’ll suck at it or maybe you won’t.
Can you allow yourself to suck2 at it for a little while in order to find your way forward?
Words to Consider
In the same interview, the host asked Hawke about the experience of having his first movie flop.
“Well, it’s the greatest wish I could give any young artist. You really find out, real, real fast why you’re doing it. Cause if you’re doing it for accolades and for everyone to love you then you really shouldn’t do it because everyone ain’t gonna love you and you’re gonna get punched in the face over and over again.”
Blessings from the Guest Nest,
-Aimee
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The panels are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches. A while back I used a tool called a Gelli-plate to “paint” the papers.
I have so much trouble using the word “suck”. I wasn’t allowed to say the word when I was a kid, so now I found my mid-forties-self still cringing when I use the word.
This is EXACTLY what I needed to read today. Thank you so much, Aimee! It's almost amusing how often I need to be reminded to let go of outcome. ♥️♥️♥️