The more I learn, the less convinced I am that creative confidence means reaching some magical point where you always know what you’re doing. There will always be another unfamiliar technique. Another piece of software. Another material. Another project that absolutely refuses to resemble the beautiful thing you can see inside your head.
And yes, another disappointment.
Maybe creative confidence is trusting yourself to know that when something doesn’t work, you have options.
You can be disappointed without turning that disappointment against yourself.
You can examine what happened.
You can learn something.
You can ask for help.
You can change your approach.
You can try again.
You can decide it’s good enough.
You can discover something unexpected and say:
Oops… I Like It.
You can finish something and proudly announce:
I Made a Thing!
Or you can decide you’ve learned everything this particular disaster has to offer, take careful aim at the nearest wastebasket and—
PLINK.
Then make something else.
Because perhaps resilience isn’t believing the next thing will definitely work.
Perhaps it’s knowing you’ll still be okay if it doesn’t.
And tomorrow, you can try again.
Preferably while Quality Control is awake.
Unfortunately, around here…
NO QUALITY. NO CONTROL.
A Little Encouragement for Your Own Creative Chaos
Somewhere during all of this experimenting, failing, learning and laughing, we realized these little phrases deserved to become something of their own.
So we made you a page of Creative Chaos stickers.
They’re not reminders that everything will turn out perfectly.
We can’t promise that.
They’re reminders that first tries count, experiments count, learning counts, unexpected wins count, finishing counts—and knowing when to PLINK counts too.
Stick them in a planner. Put them in a journal. Use one to commemorate the project that nearly broke your spirit but eventually behaved.
Or put I MADE A THING! next to something you’re ridiculously proud of.
You earned that one.
And if your next project goes completely off the rails?
Well…
There’s probably a sticker for that too
