Success in failure

This is a painting of a Luna Moth that I created this week. It's not great. It's mediocre I think.

But!

This is also a huge success for me!

You see, I am terrified of moths. It's a phobia. I know, logically, that it's a silly fear, but while I will handle snakes, spiders, slugs, and any number of creepy crawly things without batting an eye, I will panic in the presence of moths.

I don't like fear controlling my life, so I have been gradually introducing more images of moths to my browsing material and reading about them while enjoying my favorite drinks and otherwise pleasant settings to help build a tolerance for moths.

I love painting, and it relaxes me, so I decided to paint a moth. It worked. I still start a little when I first look at it, but I was able to finish a painting of something that terrifies me.

So for all that the painting isn't particularly well done, it's amazing for me, because it is a victory over my own fear!

Sometimes the measure of success isn't how well done something is, but that we manage it at all.