Farley Lewis

Starting something new requires courage, unless you haven’t yet celebrated your sixth birthday. Thankfully I made my start as an artist before then, but writing was different. Setting out to write this book felt like I was trying to baptize a cat. Fear of the unknown, wondering if I really have anything to say, fear of failing – whenever I sat down to write, I always thought of ten things I ought to be doing besides writing.

I know artists and would-be artists struggle with this, because I talk with them. “I don’t know what I’m doing – real artists know what to do, I’m just guessing most of the time.” Truth be told, we’re all guessing. At times we all feel like we’re shooting in the dark at a moving target. “I don’t have the natural talent others do.” Talent is overrated. We receive our gifts and talents in seed form; what we do with those seeds looks a lot like courage; the will to practice and the determination to keep learning and trying, even when we aren’t seeing progress.

Making art is like growing up – it’s not for sissies. I remember starting Junior High, the first day at lunch period, walking into the cafeteria. I could feel hundreds of eyes on me as I carried my lunch tray into the cavernous dungeon. Knowing which table to sit at, in a sea of strangers, was more than daunting, it was terrifying. This decision could shoot my chances of ever being popular. If I pick the wrong table, I might not survive the social aftermath. Maybe I could put in for a transfer? It’s the same feeling people sometimes get when they finally sign up to attend a painting workshop or apply for an art show.

One of the hardest parts of developing as an artist – or starting just about any new venture – is getting started. Fear that we’re not enough, that we don’t have what it takes, that others will laugh at our feeble efforts – these and a host of other fears threaten to kill the budding desire before it has a chance to take root. But the only way to do better art is to do lots of lousy art first. There are no shortcuts.

Fear is never your friend, and it never gives good advice. Ever. Courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the determination to move forward in spite of the fear. The alternative to advancing through your fears? Staying in your comfort zone. But comfort zones are where dreams go to die. Finding the courage to start may be difficult, but if we don’t walk through our fears and move forward, we will eventually experience the pain of deep regret. When people in their 80’s were asked, “What would you do differently if you could live your life over?” many of them said, in one form or another, “I wish I had taken more risks.”

Don’t listen to the voice of fear. Playing it safe is really staying on the sidelines of life, and you are not born to be a spectator. You’re a history maker. Chances are you probably won’t be famous, but researchers tell us that even the most introverted person will impact 10,000 lives in their lifetime. It is through numberless, daily acts of courage by people no one will ever know that history is being shaped¹. People just like you.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” When you could lose big by being honest, it takes courage to tell the truth. When they don’t deserve kindness or forgiveness, courage is needed to be kind and forgiving. Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white person and go to the back of the bus. Her simple act of courage in the face of injustice became a powerful symbol of the civil rights movement. She pushed through her fears; she did the hard thing, and it changed history.

You and I may not end up in the history books, but let’s leave a legacy of courage for future generations. Let it be said of us that we did the hard thing, we stood against the tide when the tide was going the wrong direction. We started down the road of our dreams, in spite of all the fears howling at us like so many wolves. Let it be said of us that we had the courage to step out, stand up, move forward and never quit.