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So, a while back, I had this sudden urge to write song lyrics, not even knowing what the tune was going to sound like. About a week later, I wrote lyrics for a second song. When I first produced them, they felt like a fire that burst inside me that I had to get out of me. I’ve had a few creative bursts like this before (I’ve been a Game Master for D&D and I wrote some great pieces in school, one of which was used as an example for other classes), but this is new.

Today, I’ll be collaborating with a friend who has decent music software to transform my first set of lyrics from a poem into an actual song. I’ve found that self-doubt has creeped into my soul, as it often does, sadly. The weak part of me hopes that my friend will cancel as I had to for health reasons last week (I was bed-ridden from sleep-deprivation).

I know I’ve got a bunch of creative people that follow me. Tell me, what do you do to combat these feelings when you’re trying to complete a work of art?

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jozsef:
This is where genetically inherited instinctual responses come into play. For billions of years, our ancestors' lives involved trying to acquire food without becoming food. Failing at either of these left no second chance for a modified approach based on lessons learned. In the modern world, we have a second category of activities in which the risks are disappointment, embarrassment and inconvenience, but these are reversible, unlike death which is annoyingly permanent. We routinely conflate these very different possible outcomes but we can learn to be conscious of the distinction and then see that if millions of people are united in their loathing for our new song, we will still be here to continue with our life. Another area with an important lost distinction is predicting an outcome. In the physical world, we generally know on the basis of precedent what will happen when chemicals are mixed together, etc. When human emotions and subjectivity are involved, any attempt to predict an outcome can only be an educated guess. Feeling like a dummy for predicting the behavior of others incorrectly makes no sense by virtue of it being impossible to do consistently in the first place. These ideas from my doctor changed my life very much for the better so I hope you find this of some help. Just forge ahead. Anyone who merits a second of thought is going to be supportive of your efforts and those who are insulting are uncivilized and need to be ignored anyway. Good luck old son, and have fun. I insist. 😉
pesdusa:
"JUST DO IT!" @jozsef made a very interesting point. I would try to focus on that 'drive' feel, and just think of the enjoyment which it could bring you once you actually finish the 'task'.

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