About a month ago, I started a challenge to draw a doodle for 100 days in a row.
I made it exactly 31 days before I gave it up.
Here’s what I learned:
- 30 days is my limit for a challenge.
- When I do (visual) art out of obligation instead of creative urge, it isn’t just not fun, it actually makes me unhappy.
- I prefer art projects I can complete in one sitting — but a project still needs to have context, even if it’s a simple doodle. These “kooky owl” comics I do here and there are much more satisfying than these daily doodles have been.
Not long ago, I would beat myself up for “giving up.” I would stay committed even if the project made me downright miserable. It is part of my integrity-oriented identity to always follow through on the things I say I’m going to do.
I’m not going to beat myself up for this.
Life is short.
There are other things I would rather be doing with my time and energy right now. Other creative things, other family things, other business things.
This was a failed experiment. Nothing more than that.
And failure, as we know, often teaches us more than success.
