Overcoming one of my deepest fears

I have never explicitly admitted this to anyone:

I am afraid I will fail.

Every day, I am afraid I will fail.

Sometimes, I catch myself thinking maybe it's better if I don't try at all on something because if I don't try it then I can't fail at it. What a terribly paralyzing thought.

That's why there's some deep part of me that's delighted by the story of the 80 year old lady in Spain who set out to touch up an antique painting at her church and it didn't quite go as planned.

Left: The original painting.

Middle: The deteriorating painting, before touch-up.

Right: The painting after being attacked by a sweet old lady with good intentions. The result was described by a BBC reporter as "a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic."

I'm not happy at her failure, but I'm happy that she was still willing to try. Granted, a $3 craft store canvas may have been a better place for her to try, but it delights me that she's trying.

Liberated and inspired by her brassiness, I turned my Doing Dial up a notch and touched up some classic artworks, myself. I think they turned out splendidly, don't you?

The Mono Lisa

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The Birth of Ill-fitting Tunics

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Hairy Gothic

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Girl(?) with a Pearl Earring