I can do that.

We’re all bloody marvellous at everything in our heads aren’t we?

I watch other artists and look at their work and think, I could paint that.

I look at other people moving their bodies and I think, I could move like that.

I taste beautiful, delicious muffins and bakery treats, I eat incredible savoury dishes, I look at other peoples beautiful outfits, homes, and gardens and the whole time I’m thinking, I could cook, make, look, build and grow ALL of that!

And, I’m not wrong, I could…

If I put exactly the same amount of time, energy, skill, and passion into whatever I’m coveting, that the original maker did… I COULD do that.

But it would take decidedly a hell of a lot more effort than it takes to simply say “I could do that’!

And that’s why I bloody love the humbling nature of actually doing the thing that we all think we could just ‘do’.

I can cook OK muffins, but I don’t really respect the nature of the ingredients and I roughly measure them, because the precise science of baking doesn’t interest me at this point. Thus, my muffins are generally a bit dry and chewy.

My garden, whilst beautiful, is not quite the fruitful pantry of my dreams. Again, the science and the finesse, is something I don’t really want to get into.

I’m always missing a couple of key ingredients (like 5 hours of marinating time) when I cook famous French stews.

My outfits just don’t quite have that necessary, experimental flare, because I quite simply don’t have the balls to experiment in that way!

My point is, there is a hell of a lot of difference between the thought of what we can do, and the reality of what we actually produce.

We all know this, surely???

And yet, when it comes to painting on a canvas, I am met constantly with people’s aggressive egos, and delusions of grandeur, because everyone seems to just believe that ‘they can do that’.

They’ve never painted a portrait before and yet there is genuine shock, dismay, and surprise that a masterpiece hasn’t unfurled like a spring blossom from their brush.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Where does this come from?

I really don’t have the answer, but the moral of this story is: calm down. 

Maybe we can stop feeling the need to ‘do it all’, and instead appreciate the effort and years of hard work that go into each person’s ability to do that thing so damn well? 

…And through that appreciation and validation maybe we’ll come to a place where what we’ve done and what we have is, enough, just as it is.

XXX ALi