Everything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
This phrase is often attributed to G.K. Chesterton, but is often retold throughout the internet as a story about a pupil and his school teacher.
What does it mean? It's the motto, opposite to the perfectionist approach: "Do it perfectly, or never", that obviously transforms to "Never do it", because such a sky high standard is utterly paralyzing.
The truth is: if you start some activity, don't expect to excel in it from the beginning. Just do the damn thing, for the sake of doing it. Seek for the approach you like the most. Decide if you enjoy the process - and if you do, do it poorly!
You may excel later. You may never excel and continue to do your thing on the same level. But if this activity brings you joy, it’s worth doing.
Playing with BJDs, photography, crafts and so on are hobby activities for the vast majority of us. That’s the purpose of the hobby - to be enjoyable. If there are some standards set, first and foremost it adds anxiety. Are you here for anxiety? No? Just don’t judge without being asked, and ostracize those who do that.
I started my BJD hobby path within a Russian speaking community. They have this mindset due to the complex historical background: you should be worthy, you should try hard, you’ll be purposefully and harshly judged by people you don’t know, just to watch your reaction. I was never treated like that throughout 30 years of my life, so I didn’t know what to do and how to respond. It brought me so much anxiety and so many negative feelings.
But I proceeded and did my thing, however I could. Years passed. Look at my crafts now: no outsider would dare to say: “Meh, I’ll do that by myself!”, and those few who will actually do, would never say that, because they also came through blood and sweat.
I’ll advocate for doing hobbies poorly to the end of my days. You know, when a noob says that, is not the same as when a skilled artisan says that. Nobody deserves to be judged as harshly as I was judged, nobody deserves to cry over the rude things from the people whom you expected to be like-minded and share the same interests.
The behavior of Russian community doesn’t surprise me anymore, after everything that happened already. Their society has a very high tolerance for abuse, otherwise you can’t survive there. The majority of them never admit it, never notice it. I left long ago, but I’ll never forget. I chose to do my thing and keep spreading the word: “Do your thing the way you can!”
