Art and Fear Quotes and Reflection

One quote that I picked was "We have met the enemy and he is us. " (23). I picked this because I feel like everyone can relate to it and it’s totally true. I take it to mean that we ourselves are harder on ourselves than anyone else so we end up being our own enemies. We always tend to be really harsh on ourselves. I know that I always think my work is bad whether it by m art work or my karate work… whatever it is I’m convinced it’s terrible and that I should be able to do better. I am just recently starting to break out of that habit of being overly harsh and critical about myself and for once I am actually accepting that sometimes my art and karate and school work does look and sound ok. I still wouldn’t call anything great, or amazing or anything like that, but im not saying everything is terrible and I’m a complete failure anymore. This step I have made in my own life has allowed me to try new things in Art class (like mixing media and experimenting with simplistic pieces as opposed to very detailed pieces) and I have also been able to try new things in school and at karate. It’s a good thing, but at the same time it is hard and by no means comes natural to me. I am a creature of habit and I tend to stay as far away as possible from change. I am really working on overcome my OCD tendencies and to stop being a perfectionist when it comes to my artwork. This hasn't been and won't be easy for me because this mentality is so ingrained in me, but this quote helped me realize just how harsh I am on myself all the time in almost everything I do, so I am now making a conscious effort to change the way I view myself and my work.