Frustration comes when our ego is not meeting an idealised goal or expectation. Before we embark on a task, we often set ourselves goals of what we want to achieve, but it is very common to misplace our overall expectations with today's expectations.

Just because we want to master a skill like colouring as an overarching goal, it doesn't mean it should be your goal every time you sit down to colour. So it's important to think about those expectations you are placing on yourself, and think about whether they are realistic and achievable for today's activities. Do the pressures help us perform better or do they make us anxious to take on challenges in case we make mistakes? You get to be in control of the expectations you place on yourself.

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Remember, learning is not a race or a competition. It is not realistic to expect perfection, to be creating the same as others when we don't know how much experience they've had, or to instantly master new skills. Make sure your goals and expectations are realistic and not self-sabotaging. If you are overwhelmed, make your goal just a 10 minute start, or adding colour to a tiny part of an image rather than needing to sit and complete an entire project at once. Or approach a piece as a practice so you can scribble on the paper, take notes, and experiment without any intention of a usable finished project. Or make your goal to learn just one new thing with your next practice, and take note of what you take away so the focus is on the lesson and not on whether your results are good or bad.

Just as much as you are in control of placing the pressures, you are in control of taking them away and making them manageable. Your success comes from your ability to see mistakes for what they are - lessons. To see challenges for what they are - growth. You don't have to be great to start hobbies, but you do have to actually start them, practice them, and enjoy them to eventually be great. Remember, your hobbies are your time for self-care, to step back from some of the stress in our lives, so make sure not to inject stress in an activity which is meant to be your time for you