Overcoming The Fear Of Trying

/ May 16, 2018

I know this looks bad, like a child’s work (no, I think even kids can do better than this), but the only reason why I’m posting this today, out to the world, is because I’ve always, always been a scaredy cat when it comes to doing something new and something that I have no experience of.

One of those things has been painting with watercolors… I mean sure, I’ve used them along with other mediums but I’ve never JUST used watercolors because I’m so scared about the colors all blending into one muddy glob of brown.

I suck at blending which is why I never tried my hand at painting since high school. I’ve only started again about a year or so back, but always hesitated using watercolors. My go to medium has been aquarelle pencils or just sketching with charcoal pencils. Of late I’ve also started sketching with micron pens.

But today I told myself – why are you such a pansy about them? What’s the worst that could happen? You will have wasted paper and colors but not time… No, not time. Because you used it for practice. Not everything has to be perfect! Who will know if you fail. And even if you do, so what?!

And so I started… I painted some three doodles before I began this one and initially even this looked like it wasn’t going to amount to much and I was this close to giving up… yet again. But then the bleeding colors began to resemble the forms that I was trying to paint. And then this happened –

Point is, even though, there’s much, much more to learn, this was a beginning, a step to overcome that fear of trying something new.

So a pat on my back and hurrah for one good effort. Like they say in Hindi – Darr ke aage jeet hai (there’s victory beyond fear).

P. S. – This is based on an illustration I saw on pinterest. This is not an original work of mine. It’s a copy.

Here is the link to the original.

So what do you guys think? Are you also scared of trying out new things? Have you too always believed that it’s better to be safe? Tell me your fear stories and your suggestions in the comments section below.

I’m waiting….

Copyright © Pradita Kapahi 2018.

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24 thoughts on “Overcoming The Fear Of Trying”

  1. I don’t think I’ve been afraid to try new things (other than sky diving or bungee jumping), but that’s not to say I’m good at everything I’ve tried. No matter, Pradita, I believe the effort is worth the time. I also believe that it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect, it’s that you enjoy what you’re doing. Your water color is just fine because it’s unique to you and no one else.

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  3. With watercolors, a lot depends on the quality of paper. I did my earlier drawings in my regular sketchbook and wondered about the lack of desired effect. I am still in search of good quality cost effective paper for watercolor drawings.

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    • You’re right Ma’am. Quality of paper matters a lot when it comes to using different mediums of paper. Her in India, good quality watercolor paper is hard to find – most hobby stores either don’t stock it or keep very cheap variety. Mostly you have to order it online or pay through your nose. I do have watercolor paper but I always hesitate using it (its tied to my hesitation in using watercolors). I must remember to do that because the end result could be entirely different when you use the right paper. Thank you for the tip 🙂

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