StripeMania

Do you ever NOT do something because you think you won't be that great at it? I've discovered that I turn down a lot of artistic experiences because...I think because I'm afraid of the results. Specifically, I'm afraid that the results won't be as great as I imagined them. Part of that is vanity. I want my stuff to be the best. I want to put forth the most awesome, fabulous thing ever and have people think great things about me. The truth is awkward sometimes, isn't it?

Today is an exception to the rule, though I did fight against my inner critic for a long time. Holly Becker (editor of the Decor8 blog, author of the newly published book "Decorate", and teacher in a blogging class that I took and LOVED called Blogging Your Way) put out a fun project called "Stripemania" (photo gallery here). She was encouraging anyone to take a photo of themselves in stripes and blog about it/post the photo etc. My knee-jerk (and embarrassingly vain) reaction was this: I'm not doing it. I look terrible in stripes.

*Sigh* Then I kept seeing all the fun people were having and told myself this: I can't take pictures of myself. That's strange.

Today, I realized what I was doing to myself...those reasons are real, but not good enough not to try something new. Eff-it, I was going to whip up some stripey pictures of myself, and if they sucked, so what. I would have fun trying something out of my comfort zone.

I'm glad I did. Not the best picture of me. No make-up. Unflattering shirt. I'm still vain enough to keep parts of me covered up--namely, my chest! Just me, and my wall, and my camera and 15 minutes of my time. And I'm a little proud of myself for just doing it.