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You know how when you start drawing on a sheet of paper and you’re happy that everything is going well? You’re in the flow of things \u2013 swish, stroke, draw, paint. This is the best thing ever!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But then, oh crap<\/em>. A slip up. No biggie. Let’s deal with that.<\/em><\/p>\n Ctrl-Z.<\/p>\n Swish, stroke, draw, paint. Hmmmm<\/em>.<\/p>\n You erase, move on. Re-do. Undo. Paint over. Undo again.<\/p>\n Undo. Undo. Undo. Argh<\/em>.<\/p>\n There’s a nagging thought at the back of your mind.\u00a0This isn’t turning out so well. But it’s half done!<\/em> It’s almost there! I can almost see it, I just can’t feel it… yet.<\/em><\/p>\n So you continue to throw more at it.\u00a0Layers and layers of lines, paint, and paper. Until you don’t know how you got here. Everything\u00a0looks like a hot mess.\u00a0Crap<\/em>.<\/p>\n Since it\u00a0took you this\u00a0long to flesh out\u00a0the whole\u00a0thing you decide to\u00a0keep at it. More. Undo. More. Undo.<\/p>\n GAHHH<\/em>.<\/p>\n At this point you start to sweat. You’ve done something alright, but you’re not happy.\u00a0It doesn’t feel right. Or for that split second when you rationalise with yourself that hey, that’s<\/em>\u00a0pretty decent<\/em>. Not great, but just\u00a0okay.<\/em>\u00a0Nothing wrong with it\u00a0being just\u00a0okay, right? Right?\u00a0<\/em>Plus,\u00a0look at all this time you’ve put into it! 3 hours! 10! What about the time you lost sleep over it? Surely it means you’re onto something worthwhile? No? What? No?<\/p>\n Listen,\u00a0you’re not getting that time back. What you can do is to not sink more time and energy into something that you know deep down won’t work.<\/p>\n We can’t turn back time, but we can\u00a0learn from it. Take your finger off the CTRL-Z\u00a0button. No more undos.<\/p>\n Take a deep breath.<\/p>\n You know what you have to do.<\/p>\n You’ve got to start over.<\/p>\n It’s hard. Look, I totally get it.<\/p>\n But shittier things have happened. Natural disasters wiping away cities down to nothing. Earthquakes that swallow up whole postcodes. Families get torn apart. People divorce. But people rebuild. That’s what they do. They start from scratch again. Things will and can collapse, but we\u00a0have a choice\u00a0to rebuild. It’s not a question of do or don’t. It’s a question of when.\u00a0<\/em>When you fall down, you dust yourself off, and get back up.<\/p>\n Sure, you’ll mourn what could have been. You’ll stumble along the way. That piece of paper\u00a0could have turned out\u00a0great. Your time, effort and energy didn’t have to be wasted.<\/p>\n The same could be said of every disaster, hardship or challenge faced by people everyday.\u00a0That accident could have been avoided. They looked so happy<\/em>. No one predicted that the storm would be that devastating.<\/p>\n Today, it’s between you and that sheet of paper.<\/p>\n Starting again is scary. But so is holding on to something that you know can be so much better.<\/p>\n It’s natural to worry about the what if’s when\u00a0you put aside\u00a0that mangled\u00a0piece of paper. It’s the fear that your work will never be the same again. Or that you couldn’t possibly recreate it again. It may not be a bad thing though. Let’s face it \u2013 your new work could go\u00a0bad. Really bad. Or, it may very well be amazing. You could even outdo yourself. You could discover a completely new side to your work. Serendipity could pay dividends \u2013 but only if you’re willing to take the chance to walk through that door.<\/p>\n The point is, you’ll never know what\u00a0will happen until\u00a0you start fresh, without all the baggage that came with the old.<\/p>\n When we put so much expectation onto\u00a0that one sheet of paper, it’s hard to move beyond\u00a0the sunk costs. Darn it, I invested time and effort into this piece \u2013 it should pay off!<\/em> I should be able to finish what I started on this sheet itself! It should look great!<\/em><\/p>\n But life doesn’t always work that way does it?<\/p>\n I’ve recently learned the\u00a0hard way how true this is. The act of holding on to\u00a0something that you’ve poured your heart, sweat and tears into, one that no longer fits \u2013 is painful. Learning to let go, to set it free and to try\u00a0again takes a lot more courage than we dare to admit. But that’s what we have to do, even if\u00a0it feels like conquering Mount Everest. Even if it’s letting go of a piece of paper.<\/p>\n So do yourself a favour \u2013 take one small step today.<\/p>\n Time to take out a fresh sheet of paper.<\/p>\n White. Empty. Fresh. New.\u00a0The possibilities are endless.<\/p>\n Ready? Go on, make your mark.<\/p>\n Again.<\/p>\n And again. And again.<\/p>\n Pretty soon, you’ll realise that starting over gets a little easier everyday.<\/p>\n ==================<\/p>\n As I write about starting over, I’m hitting the reset button myself. I’m launching a new online class in September (based on the feedback you lovely readers have\u00a0generously\u00a0shared with me!) More details will be\u00a0afoot in a couple of weeks, so watch this space!<\/em><\/p>\nIllustration by Ryo Takemasa<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"