Let Art Change Your Mind: Escaping the Cage of Perfectionism
The Power of Creative Surrender by Stephanie Miller
This week, I am excited to bring you another guest post; this one is by writer Stephanie Miller, author of
. It is another installment of the series, Let Art Change Your Mind, where I invite you, my readers, to share how a work of art has shifted your perspective on a creative (or life) challenge. Check out this post for an overview of the self-coaching exercise, and reach out via email at hello@artistsforjoy.org if you’re interested in writing a guest post in this series.In this post, the work of art that changed Stephanie’s mind was one of her own watercolor creations. Early on in the post, she mentions our Artist’s Way Creative Cluster and two transformative exercises we practice there: Morning Pages and Artist Dates. Our next cohort begins February 11th and there’s still time to join. We’d love to have you.
I’ll be back next week with an essay of mine for you.
Enjoy Stephanie’s invitational writing,
—Merideth
Maybe the journey isn’t about becoming anything.
Maybe it’s about the unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.
-Paulo Coelho
I remember picking up The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron during my certification process as a writing coach. I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt compelled to commit to journaling every day. I also knew I’d need accountability to stay consistent, so I joined Merideth’s Creative Cluster.
Eager to jump in, I started journaling a week before our first meeting. That initial excitement was thrilling, of course; I wanted to journal! If it promised to change my life, why wouldn’t I try? I was cautiously optimistic but also skeptical.
What if this doesn’t help me?
What if I can’t stick with it?
What if I try and nothing happens?
I had three small kids, endless to-dos, and mornings that already felt chaotic. How was I supposed to find quiet time to write three longhand pages? It seemed like a fantasy, but I was willing to try.
What surprised me was how that small practice opened the door to so much more. Building confidence in my ability to journal gave me the courage to try something even harder: Artist Dates.
If journaling felt manageable, Artist Dates seemed like a pipe dream. I’m a writer by identity, so filling pages felt natural. But taking myself out to explore creativity through wonder, art, and curiosity? That was an entirely different challenge.
Each intentional step led me closer to something I hadn’t touched since I was a child—painting. Watercolor had been calling me for years, but I’d ignored the nudge, too afraid of failure to even try.
When I finally began painting, it felt like an unlearning process. I had to let go of perfectionism, of the fear of doing it wrong. What if I ruined it? What if I wasn’t good enough? Those thoughts kept me paralyzed, trapped in a cage of self-doubt.
Yet something deeper within wouldn’t let me quit.
By the time of the silent retreat I participated in, I’d been doing Morning Pages for over two years but had only recently given myself permission to experiment with watercolors. It was new, exciting, and terrifying.
On the second day of the retreat, I reached my limit with introspection and decided to paint. I took my supplies out to the dock, where the misty rain and overcast sky created a serene backdrop.
The day wasn’t what most people would call beautiful—foggy, gray, and cold—but I found it mesmerizing. The water shimmered like reflective glass, and the sky and clouds blended in muted tones, soft and mysterious.
Sitting there, surrounded by nature, I marveled at creation—and I created.
For the first time, I painted without judgment. I wasn’t worried about how it would turn out or if it would measure up to some invisible standard. I just painted what I saw, blending colors and letting the strokes guide me.
It was like a dam had broken. My creative flow, like a river, just came pouring out. The cage I had once found myself in was gone. I was no longer grasping for the ideal and coming up short, I was too focused on the pleasure of creating to be anxious about the outcome.
Dipping my paintbrush into the paint, then the water, then dabbing on the paper towel. The way the brush strokes felt as I moved them across the paper. The feeling of the over-saturated paper starting to dissolve below the blue, gray, and green hues.
The experience felt timeless. I don’t know if it lasted an hour or more, but I do know I lost myself in it. For once, I wasn’t answering anyone or taking care of anyone but myself. There was nowhere else to be, nothing else to do but surrender.
I surrendered what I wanted the painting to look like. Instead, I focused on the process of painting and the delight I was experiencing being inspired by creation.
Somewhere between making the water darker and the sky lighter, I lost my fear of failure and gained unimaginable trust.
Trust in myself.
Trust in the process.
Trust in the Divine to lead and direct my creative work.
Releasing control also takes courage, and I believe both trust and courage are required if we want to tap into our true creative potential.
There, on that dock, I let myself trust the process and not worry about the outcome.
When I felt like the painting was complete, something else happened that surprised me.
I didn’t meet it with my usual critical eye.
Instead, I met my painting and myself with grace and compassion. I saw what I had created and concluded it was good. Not good because it looked great, but good because it was co-created with God, who is good.
I had surrendered to the process, to the art, to the sea, to the experience itself.
And it had proven to be good.
But it gets better.
While I was painting, I had oriented the page to draw the sky and the water a certain way, and upon grabbing my supplies to carry them back to the house —I happened to glance at my picture “upside down”.
As I studied the picture upside down, there it was.
The sky and the water, this new orientation, seemed to be a better representation of what I had wanted to paint.
Here, I had painted with one thing in mind, and, in a chance observation, I noticed the other way was better.
There was no doubt in my mind now that this picture was not upside down but right-side up.
The revelation screamed at me in that moment—I was so meticulous in my making, but God ultimately was the one who created through me.
This was my reminder of the beauty of letting go of control—the beauty of surrender and trust in the creative process.
I am by no means living this out perfectly, but I am living this out consistently. I believe this is what it’s all about.
When I find myself slipping back into the desire to control and manipulate the outcome, I remember my job is to be obedient to the creative pursuit, and God will take care of the rest.
As Julia Cameron famously says, “I will take care of the quantity, and God will take care of the quality.”
Now, with over 100 watercolor paintings behind me, I’m learning to live this truth every day. Creativity isn’t about perfection or control; it’s about trust—trusting ourselves, the process, and the Creator who inspires us.
When we release our need to dictate the outcome and instead embrace the journey, we tap into our fullest creative potential. On that dock, in the misty silence, I discovered a freedom I didn’t know I needed. And that freedom continues to shape not just my art but my life.
Where there is true creativity, there is freedom. What was unleashed that day is never going back in the cage.
My joy and my sanity depend on it, and so does yours.
What is holding you back from your creative freedom?
What could you discover if you surrendered control and embraced the creative process?
What in your creative life needs to be let out of the cage?
Cheering you on in your creative journey,
Stephanie
Stephanie Miller is a multi-published author, speaker, and certified Spiritual Growth Coach and Writing Coach with a heart for inspiring others to reach their full potential. She regularly teaches workshops, speaks at events and has been featured on over 50 podcasts (and counting). Through her coaching, she has helped many aspiring writers overcome their fears and develop their craft while also growing in their faith. You can learn more about her coaching and editing services here. If you're a writer stuck in self-sabotage, be sure to download her guide to getting unstuck so you can make real writing progress here.
And if you're a faith-filled creative, be sure to subscribe to her Substack, Live & Create Transformed by Butterfly Beginnings | Stephanie Miller . She writes about what it looks like to live and create from your faith perspective, sharing insights, tips and encouragement for anchoring your spiritual identity to your creativity.