Your nest, so to speak, is your safe place, your comfort zone. Maybe your nest is symbolic of your job, your geographical location, your schedule, or your general life plan. But there may come a time that while your nest is comfortable, it’s not what’s best for you anymore. Regardless of whether you’re crazy excited, overly nervous, or somewhat sad about this realization, throwing yourself out of your nest may be just the ticket to make your inner ambitions and heart’s passions possible.
In order to see an idea come to fruition, we must first take action. We must do something. Though taking action can be easier said than done, we’re all probably a bit more motivated and receptive to change when what we’re actually doing is different than what we want to be doing. Do you wish you were pursuing a different career path? Would you like to start a side business? Does investing time in a new hobby interest you? Are you secretly longing to show you work to the world? To do these things, likely all you need is a little push out of your comfort zone.
Though you may need to let go of (or at least loosen your grip on) your safety net, that doesn’t mean you have to do so completely unprepared. In fact, the more prepared you are, the more confident you’ll feel in your future work decisions. For some, this could mean researching other job opportunities, weighing your options’ pros and cons, and talking to employees at a new place of potential employment. For others, this may mean something as basic as getting organized. If you’re a creative, you likely have a lot of ideas. It can be time-consuming to organize and manage all of those innovative but yet-to-be-developed ideas floating around in your head, but planning is a crucial step in seeing an idea take shape.
Getting prepared could also mean doing some hard work and having lots of patience in the meantime. Your dreams may be better sought with the specific degree you need to achieve them. If a hard-earned degree or a few years experience is what’s best, don’t shortchange your dreams. Be realistic about what you need to fulfill your dreams so that you better your chances of success in the future and feel prepared when the time comes to take your leap.
That said, at some point, you have to let go. Your writing, artwork, recipe, musical composition, resume, or plan of action may never be picture perfect. Give yourself permission to cease striving for perfection. In order to move forward, you’ll have to do this. Perfectionism can be paralyzing, and it can take hold of you in a way that thwarts your ability to progress. Create your work to the best of your ability, then free yourself of the burden of perfectionism.
It takes courage to get out of your nest, but be encouraged to do so! Take inventors, writers, and even athletes, for example. Thank goodness that Margaret A. Wilcox was brave enough to try. Without her, we might not have had car heating for quite some time. If Ruth Graves Wakefield hadn’t written a cookbook, the world might not know about chocolate chip cookies. Jane Austen had some pretty stiff competition, but she spent much of life writing because she enjoyed it. It just so happens she was also a rockstar at it. Imagine if Serena Williams had never tried out for the tennis team. My guess is that all of these women had a fairly well-organized plan and a whole lot of courage.
If you spend your days closed off, huddled up, not sharing your work, you may never reach your potential, and the world will never see what you have to offer. Your artistic thoughts are valuable, and they’re worth sharing.