it’s never too late to take yourself seriously
The pianist James Rhodes once said: “Only when the pain of not doing it got greater than the imagined pain of doing it did I somehow find the balls to pursue what I really wanted."
He was talking about pursuing his musical dreams, but I think the sentiment applies to anything we've been dreaming about but keeping on the backburner, putting it off to a time when we feel more ready, when the time is somehow more right.
Rhodes only started playing the piano seriously when he was 14, and at 18, he stopped playing entirely. It wasn't until 10 years later, after struggling mightily with mental health issues, that Rhodes returned to his dream of making music. The prospect of pursuing a career in classical music after such a long time away must have been extremely daunting--but Rhodes persisted and is now a successful concert pianist who has released five albums.
What I take away from Rhodes' story is that it's never too late to take yourself seriously as an artist, no matter if you've neglected or even abandoned your practice in years past. The only way to overcome the pain of not creating is to start creating!
If you have some writing dreams that have been gathering dust for a while now, take a little time this August to breathe some new life into them! I highly recommend doing the following:
scheduling a regular weekly writing time for yourself--and sticking to it
connecting with other writers who share your dreams and encourage you to keep working toward them
setting a firm deadline to complete a new piece of work
taking a writing class to spark new ideas and hone new writing skills