It's Ok to Be Nervous When Pushing Yourself Creatively

Well, my next micro audio drama is in the works. And I'm nervous.

Nervous because I'm trying some different things. Pushing myself outside of my comfort zone as a creator and voice actor.

Nervous because I'm not sure how the story will be received. I'm using some narrative devices that some people don't like.

Nervous because I just don't know if the script is even good. I know it's not great, but is it even any good?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

But you know what? It's ok to be nervous and unsure sometimes. If we never try things as creatives that we're not comfortable with, then how will we ever grow and improve? It's through doing the thing that we figure out what works and what doesn't.

Not every project is going to be a home run. For that matter, not every one will even be a base hit! We will strike out sometimes. Or hit some foul balls.

The important thing is to just strive to learn and grow with each project. Just do it. (Don't sue me, Nike!) Push yourself. Stretch yourself. Even if it flops, you can still learn from the experience.

That's not an excuse to slap something together and put out garbage. Put your best foot forward and make a genuine effort. But don't beat yourself up if it's not perfect. Put in the work to make the project as good as you possibly can, put it out there, learn from the process, and use that knowledge the next time around.

Continuous improvement is one of my life's goals. Mistakes will happen. Failures will come. We will fall short of the mark. But the key is to extract the valuable information from those mistakes, failures, and shortcomings and apply that knowledge in the future. That's when knowledge turns into wisdom.

Always keep learning. Always keep honing your skills. Don't give up.