Ive been read the book “The Fearless Mind”, by Dr. Craig L. Manning, and learning a lot about fear. 

I live so much of my life in fear! Fear of failing, fear of succeeding, fear of messing up. And so often those fears keep me from progressing, making decisions and moving forward! 

So I’ve been trying to be fearless lately. To live more in the moment, rather than afraid of the future. I may write a little more about this topic in the future. But for now, here’s the story of how failing almost halted the progress of this project. 

1st Try:

A good friend gave me this little TV cabinet, and my first thought was to paint white. Everything looks better in white, right? 

Wrong. The white just wasn’t working. It was boring and I wasn’t feeling it. Meanwhile, life got busy. I took on too many projects, tried to tackle them all at once, and this shelf became an afterthought. 

2nd Try

I found some inspiration of heavily distressed coastal inspired pieces, and decided to try some layers. I layered wax and vasoline on top of the white. Then did a layer of blue paint. 

Using a paint scraper and power sander, I took off layers of paint. The paint just flakes off wherever the wax or vasoline is. 

And I got this look:

It photographed well, and my focus group loved the coastal look, but everyone who saw it in person hated it. Including my kids.

At this point I was stuck. By now it had 3 layers of paint, and I felt like I messed it up. I was ready to give it away and the fear snuck in.

Could I fix the paint and still have it look good? Would it be gloopy? Would it be boring? 

Again, all fears about the future, right? 

3rd Try:

I gritted my teeth, sanded a little more and pulled the gray paint back out. 

I used BM Gray Wolf, and added a black glaze and polycrilic topcoat, and this is what I got:

 It worked! It’s not gloopy, feels strong and smooth, and I love how it looks! 

For me, facing my fears means doing what I can in the moment and keeping going. 

I knew that if I quit this project it would get more stressful and the problem would seem bigger as time wore on.  

I learned that pushing through with confidence in what I could do now, really makes a difference! And sometimes, the 3rd time is the charm!