Overwhelmed making choices

[Suzette]

I am a very creative person. I am very driven to express myself through art, except I never get to the place where I actually express anything.

Instead I get overwhelmed with choices.

For example, I am quite dexterous and have always been drawn to miniatures. Recently I became inspired by the miniture work of another artist. I loved the scale, presentation and excellent artistry. I thought I might be able to create some similar pieces but using my own subjects.

But I need a few tools and materials, so I decided to buy some.

As I am looking things over and makeing my choices, I start to second guess my needs and and then the initial idea. But even as I am thinking doubts my idea is being morphed by the selections of tools and materials and the original idea starts to feel wrong.

Suddenly, I am both doubtful and confused. And I become convinced that what I have planned is wrong and will suck.

So I will end up buying my materials and tools and keep doubting everything I am doing and the end result is never good enough. So, for years I will quit trying And I just never get anywhere.

What I really need help with is figuring out how to overcome this overwhelmed feeling so I can enjoy my life. Well, that's dramatic but I am not sure how to say it.

 

[Outdated]

What I really need help with is figuring out how to overcome this overwhelmed feeling so I can enjoy my life. Well, that's dramatic but I am not sure how to say it.

With just about any hobby it's best to talk to other people that have the same interest and ask them for advice. There's a bewildering amount of products out there for every hobby and many of them won't be suitable for your needs.

I'm going through the process at the moment of selecting gear I need to turn my little car in to a comfortable single man's camper van and naturally I looked to camping stores first, I found most of what's on offer is impractical and over priced and I'm now instead shopping through department stores.

 

[Jumpinbare]

I'm going through the process at the moment of selecting gear I need to turn my little car in to a comfortable single man's camper van and naturally I looked to camping stores first, I found most of what's on offer is impractical and over priced and I'm now instead shopping through department stores.

Funny, I am currently on a road trip camping in my jeep. Thought I would check on here before hitting the road

 

[Suzette]

With just about any hobby it's best to talk to other people that have the same interest and ask them for advice. There's a bewildering amount of products out there for every hobby and many of them won't be suitable for your needs.

I'm going through the process at the moment of selecting gear I need to turn my little car in to a comfortable single man's camper van and naturally I looked to camping stores first, I found most of what's on offer is impractical and over priced and I'm now instead shopping through department stores.

Thanks for that. But let me clarify my meaning.
When I say I get overwhelmed with choices, what I mean is, I get overwhelmed with my ideas.

It's more like, getting interested in van camping, realizing that with just a few tweaks you could expand your original idea a little and suddenly you find yourself thinking about outfitting a "camper plane". Because, obviously, camper planes are best. Then, realizing camper planes are an elaborate idea, you think buying a sailboat is a better use of your time. Camer van? That just seems impossible to reach now.

That's what I mean.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

1. There is no such thing as perfection, but there is the pursuit of it which is a noble attribute.
2. The types of things you are suggesting above require a learning curve. In other words, you probably will suck at it until you learn more and make some mistakes. It's a process.
3. There is a such thing as paralyzation by analyzation. If you are always in a state of questioning and analyzing, nothing will ever get done. My advice: Jump into it with both feet. Commit to it whole heartedly. Accept and embrace the inevitable mistakes as a learning opportunity.
4. No one has ever gotten good at something or gained a skill by NOT doing it.

 

[Misery]

"Analysis paralysis" maybe?

I go through something really similar, where I'll just get "stuck" and then kinda overwhelmed by things I MIGHT do, but then I DONT do.

Like, having so many options that you end up choosing "other", which of course is always a blank field.

What helps me get through it is to have something that creates an already defined starting point. Like, this "canvas" (whatever) already has something on it; the rule is you cannot change the format, because that makes no sense. You must simply work from that starting point.

I think I've shown my fractal stuff frequently on here, and that's something that can help me sorta get unstuck with my physical art, because it creates that defined starting point. I dont know if I've ever explained at all how the things are made (though I did make a video of it once) but there usually is no blank canvas state; there is always a starting object/formula/something. The format it takes depends on the program being used, but there is always already something there. One of the big ideas behind fractal design isnt that you're creating from scratch, but instead you're exploring and twisting/warping/altering. Depending on the fractal type there may be many possible starting points (flame fractals, mostly) or there may be only one (Mandelbrot). But the point is, you have a defined start in a defined format and you cant just change how you do it. Fractal creation has hard rules, unlike drawing/painting and such, and there's no way around them.

That defined start, with exploration that is still constricted by boundaries, helps me sort of knock myself out of that "stuck" state in terms of creating things in general. When I'm done making a fractal, I'm probably then ready to make something with my physical tools.

I dunno, just a thought I had. There's probably all sorts of ways that the idea could work, it sure isnt just about fractals.