[nonbirithm]

> If you are emotionally committed to it, seeing someone else doing it well will likely be inspirational. If not, you're more likely to give up before you even start.

Complete opposite for me. The things I get discouraged at doing because there is already an extraordinary talent pool are the ones I keep saying are the most interesting to me. To me, those things are too important to me to get wrong.

As a result I shut myself off from most books that are fiction, because regardless of what the content is, if I find the style of writing or content too engaging, it will plunge me into abject misery. So much so that sometimes I just can't being myself to do anything else for the day. Knowing myself, I figure that getting away with working on things that are not truly what I believe I exist on this Earth to do, but am already competent enough at this point in my life (programming) is a more productive use of my time if it means I don't catastophize at every turn. So in a sense I'm just locking myself into my current skillset in a vain attempt at self-preservation.

Statements like "just do it" have become dogma to me at this point and I seem to just shut off my mind at amy mention of them. I can't seem to legitimately enjoy doing anything unless I'm being productive and my expectations match up with reality, and you can't realistically expect to achieve this if you haven't already yet put years into a hobby.

Being as good as someone else isn't even what I wanted, it's merely being recognized at all as a somebody who does X. I don't get this recognition from anyone I know, so it feels like there is nothing at all to carry you forward except your shitty art and a vague notion that you'll eventually improve in two years, and it is the most empty feeling imaginable. There are a lot of unique ideas I carry, which none of the artists I know have ever had, but it still takes enough competence to depict those ideas according to a set standard.