When is it finished?
The more you care about something you’ve made, the harder it is to let go.
You’ve put so much pressure on your poor, soon-but-not-yet masterpiece that you whip it, whip it some more, and just to make sure, you’ll whip it one more time before you make the decision as to whether it’s good enough tomorrow morning. Cue, the next morning. You take one look at your work and feel like a splash of cold water hits your face.
It doesn’t feel finished.
Letting go of your creative endeavour is not easy. When you start making interesting ideas for the first time, it feels like a scarce, precious object that needs to be cared for like a wounded blue tit. You lovingly give it attention, nurture it, pour in blood, sweat and tears and even money in the hope that it’ll turn out to be good. If it’s not good what do I do? What do I do if it’s less than perfect? What if it turns out… *gasp* average? Am I average?
The more effort you put into a work of art, the more you become spiritually entangled with it. You root for it. You pray for it. You care for it. This is perfectly normal and expected, and after a point, extremely unhelpful too.
Here’s the thing, your work of art will never be finished. You’ll only ever let go of what you do, and decide – sensibly – that you are merely letting go. That’s ok. Your next work will be even better. Trust in yourself and carry on. And remember. You are not your work. Your work is a by product of how you once were. There is a difference.