There is a lot written all over the ‘net about getting started. Often including the wonderful Lao-tzu quote:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
My journey will only be 26.2 miles, but my single step happened incredibly quickly.
Last week, I registered to take on the Brentwood Half Marathon and I’ll shortly be registering myself for the Edinburgh marathon in May. Yesterday, I sat and mapped out my training programme for the next 31 weeks to take me up to race day in Scotland’s second city, which is a scary-looking ramping up of mileage from Christmas onwards.
Like Tor ((who’s doing brilliantly and even Tweeting herself now)), over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be getting used to a new normality. Early rises, pre-dawn runs, strict training diet and abstinence from alcohol on all but the most special of occasions.
Any change in the normality we know and love ((or loath)), it’s going to be tough. But the difficulty of the adaptations and motivations are a huge part of why I want to do this.
I want to challenge myself, I want to push myself, I want to really see what I can do with my new life, my new lungs and my second chance.
Last week’s post about whether mattering really matters or not stirred up a really interesting debate, both on here and also on my friend Chris Jones’ blog after he posted his thoughts in response.
One of my Twitter buddies also lead me down a really interesting thought pattern with his comment. He said
An audience of one is better than none
I totally agree with his point – at least in relation to filmmaking – but I also suggested that I sometimes count myself as an audience of one for my work.
As I’ve reflected over the weekend, it’s occurred to me that using myself is something of a cop out.
I’ve no problem with creating things in a vacuum and keeping them hidden from view – I like having space to experiment with filmmaking, writing, photography or any other artform I choose to challenge myself with – but it’s a lazy way out to say I’ve nade it for an audience of just myself.
One’s own self doesn’t not an audience make, and if I truly wanted to show things to an audience, I need to open myself up to that through wider dissemination of my work and not keeping it all safely tucked away.
I challenge myself to create more and share more with those around me, whether they be small, personal, family audiences, or a wider community of people in both my real and virtual lives.
Or, by contrast, to be happy creating in a vacuum just for me, but without trying to convince myself that it is anything but fear that’s holding me back from sharing it more widely.
How do you share your art? And how have you enabled yourself to open up to the big, scary world of feedback and criticism?