Every time.
Every time I get a new assignment, I react in a similar way.
I'm up shit's creek.
I'll never have a good idea.
And neither will my partner.
We'll never solve this one.
We'll be found out, exposed as frauds.
There are late nights when we'll do little but stare at the walls and throw out paper.
We may even get peeved at each other for our failures.
And then slowly the terror subsides.
Ideas start to come.
They get put down on paper and finessed.
They get shaped and improved.
The work carries the day.
Disaster is averted.
Praise is heaped.
I used to experience the same process when I ran marathons. (I completed 11.)
I was short of breath.
I ached in places I didn't know I had.
My legs felt as heavy as tree trunks.
But soon the miles spin out.
My breathing would become more regular.
My pace would steady.
I might even accelerate.
And finish.
This is just the way things are.
