The Small Beginnings

I grew up with my Dad always telling me to not despise the days of small beginnings. Everyone must start somewhere, and the beginning is never glorious or glamerous. Even those who have natural talent must start somewhere and have some failures. While I wouldn't say that there is no such thing as talent I would perhaps argue the fact that even talent takes learning. You don't just become good. First you must go through a time of unsuccessful attempts at perfection. But don't give up! The only thing you need to make it is a passion and love for what you do. If that is art, like it is in my case, it might take you years before you're even able to call yourself talented. But don't give up! Someday you will look back at the beginning and realize just how far ahead you have come. Progression is a gift that can only be appretiated by perseverance and someday it will inspire you and keep you moving forward. If it wasn't for those days of constant failures, you would never know what success is.

When I first started painting, I tried doing a portrait and it was so awful I cried afterward. If it wasn't for the support of my dad telling me to keep it up I don't even know if I would have continued! But I listened to his words of encouragement and kept on going. The second attempt was really no better, but I studied other people's works and watched loads of time lapsed paintings and kept painting. A year later showed a great amount of progress and it encouraged me all the more to think of where and what I'll be able to create the next year. This is the very gift of small beginnings. While they may not ever be glorious, they will always be inspiring. Just looking back on the difference a year can make, you will realize that it is so worth it!

Perhaps you are just starting out on something that you love but feel like you are so terrible that your'e wondering if it's even worth it? My advice would be to continue! You can only get better and better. It won't be too long before you'll be able to see value and worth in what you've done. Remember even those who have attained perfection had a beginning and were once terrible at it too. In fact anyone the world deems as talented began somewhere. Be encouraged and know that it is only because of the small beginnings that anyone has ever attained anything. Don't despise where you're at and don't give up because someone is better than you. Be encouraged to know that someday it will be you. Look at what you have started and enjoy it, because there will be a day when you will treasure these days of learning.