I know, "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
It may seem stupidly obvious, but I guess I lost sight of it: the idea that creating becomes less fun and more like work when you put a deadline or a quota on it.
This morning, I happened upon a stranger's post that was a photo of a WIP captioned with "trying to make up for not having done much art yet this year." And although the same sort of thought had gone through my head many, many times in the last year or two, I suddenly had a different one. Why do I feel I HAVE to produce stuff?
Sure, I probably have some friends who would actually enjoy seeing things I've created, but art, writing, and crocheting aren't my jobs, and the more I think about it, the happier I am that they're NOT. Because as soon as it's a job, it's not fun anymore. As soon as I have quotas and deadlines, it becomes something I dread. It becomes PRESSURE and STRESS, two things I already have enough of in my life.
I'm envious of those who CAN create things for a living. But considering how FULL the world already is of stories and art, and how small my chances are of becoming renowned for the things I create, it's a great self-induced weight off my shoulders to go back to doing it for my own joy and recreation, rather than putting imagined external pressures on myself.
Does anyone besides me even remember that picture I started of Athis in ebony armor? DOUBT IT! The idea of people being annoyed or bored with me because I didn't finish it is COMPLETELY MADE UP BY ME!
So, while I've never been one to even MAKE New Year's resolutions because I KNOW I won't keep them, I think I have one that I can keep. I'm not going to create anything out of imagined external pressure. If I want to pressure myself because it's important to ME, that's different. But this year, anything I create will be for me, because I want to, not because I feel I have to.
Well, that's a relief!