Words of Women, as a creative endeavor, took over a year to release. Life kept getting in the way – days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into a whole year.

And then, when everything was done, there was fear. A lot of it.
Fear of sharing.
Fear of judgment.
And fear of letting go.

It wasn’t building the website or even collecting the pieces of content that took so long. From a web design standpoint, Words of Women was a straightforward and relatively easy project. It was the fear of it not being *just right* and the perfectionism that rides alongside fear masquerading as “a commitment to excellence.”

I sent this Liz Gilbert quote to one of our contributors awhile back:

“Just get it done. It doesn't have to be immaculate; it just has to get done....because at some point, you really have to put the kid on the schoolbus and send him out into the world, ready or not. And I think this goes for everything.”

At the time, this contributor's remaining piece of content was the 'only' missing piece - or so I told myself (and everyone else).
Then she sent it. And I panicked. And I realized that I LOVED waiting on someone else, because now what?

I scrambled to find something else to tweak or fix or edit.
I decided I wanted to write another piece. Then I had to shoot a photo to go with it (obviously).
I set up an email address for guest contributors.
I agonized over the site's menu placement.
I optimized a few of the site's design elements for mobile visibility.

And then there was nothing else to do except take my own advice.
I needed to let go of my perfectionism and put the kid on the schoolbus.

I can decisively and efficiently move through a professional creative project with objectivity and fortitude.
A personal creative project? Cue inner turmoil and second-guessing and procrastinating and chaos.
Sharing my own thoughts and ideas and experiences in a public realm (as a Scorpio AND an Enneagram 5)? Yikes.

I want to remember this. I want to remember this feeling of reaching the end of myself with clenched fists but an open heart - with nothing else to tweak or edit - and letting go.

Create, my friends. Create and release.
The world needs you.