HEATHER LEARY S ' SHOUT OUT

Fighting the Fear of Failure

Like others there have been a lot of changes in my life due to Covid, the biggest change in my life was moving home after living in Los Angeles for 6 years. I felt I failed due to not being able to get a studio job before moving back home. My drive to work on my art was gone and I just did not know where to start.

The one thing I thought of to help push me to work was rearranging my room, to have my equipment placed in an area that felt a little more like an office space rather than an entire bedroom. It took a few times before I found an area that really worked for me. With my room rearranged and more organized, I felt that the best next step was to watch webinars and take art classes to inspire me and learn some new skills along the way. I started scheduling for days to get out of the house and go for walks to clear my head. I found that doing this helped me to relieve some of the pressure I felt.

I still struggled to improve my portfolio. The frustration was overwhelming, and I was beginning to feel like I would never get past my fears of failure. I expressed this to my mom, looking for a new perspective on the matter. She looked at me and said, “You just have to start! Even if your artwork is not perfect, put it on your portfolio so when you have what you need you already have your portfolio design planned out.” I took her advice to heart and did just that.

"I was beginning to feel like I would never get past my fears of failure."

My mom spent the weekend with me, helping me to stay on task and giving me her thoughts on how I was arranging my portfolio. I accomplished so much that I finally felt the fear of failure dissipate. Since then, I have been on top of my tasks, sure there may be a bad day here or there, but at least I know to get it done you just have to start despite it not being perfect.

The most important thing I learned through this journey is that it does not matter how fast you accomplish things; you need to enjoy the journey so not only will your art grow, but yourself as well. Fight the fear of failure!

Heather is a regular contributor to The Illustrators Journal and has worked with the editor on various projects.

You can find Heather's work at https://www.artstation.com/ heatheraaleary and her animation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnQqdDwUGk