heart stencil up the street, my boots, shot with iphone 4S
I was chatting with my friend Laurie the other day and expressing my confusion about some new directions in my creative business. I admitted that I had been walking (literally through the streets) for a couple of days in a wobbly fog. Praying clarity would find me if I walked long enough. She responded, “I heard the best thing recently – Ready, fire, aim!”
At first I thought she just said it wrong, but then I got it. Ready, fire, aim. Genius! And I kept coming back to it in the days that followed. Ready, fire, aim. This is often how the creative process unfolds. We are not always clear. Sometimes we have to throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.
It’s great when we know exactly which direction to head in, when we can see our destination and just need to keep showing up until we’re there. We ready ourselves, we hone in on where we are going and then we leap. My linear mind loves this kind of clarity and purpose.
But what about when we’re confused? When our next steps are unclear? When even the destination is blurry? Enter paralysis. Stuckness. Confusion. And I find that the longer I am confused, the more my confidence gets stripped away.
This is what happens to me: I start thinking a lot. I process with a lot of people, I go to therapy, I call my psychic. And sometimes that does the trick. Somewhere in these conversations I find my intuition. I find the resonance, the choice that feels most alive in me. My aiming process has a lot to do with extroversion. I tend to think better when I am sharing with others so I often find clarity in conversation.
But lately, about many things, I have felt lost. Is this the right choice? or is that? This path or that one? I feel wobbly and lost and like I have a broken GPS system.
But then I heard those 3 little words- Ready, fire, aim. And I got it.
Just do something, anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s the perfect thing. You can course correct later.
My friend Kelly Rae has a great philosophy about making her artwork. “There are no mistakes!” she assures me as we squeeze tubes of paint onto palettes and collect pretty pieces of paper for collage. “Just throw shit down! Whatever color delights you, grab it. If you get stuck, close your eyes and pick another bottle. It doesn’t matter because there are no mistakes, just an unfolding that gets richer and more interesting as it grows.”
How’s that for some metaphor?
If you are stuck, confused or feeling wobbly these days, you are not alone. Let’s ready, fire, aim together and keep the energy and aliveness moving.
Let’s not wait for the perfect anything. Let’s just say yes and go.
