Fear is something I face inside and outside the studio every day. Big fear. Little fear. Unfounded unreasonable fear. Understandable perfectly sensible fear. Loud obnoxious screaming fear and almost imperceptible but nudging fear. The best creative work takes me to places where I scare myself and face the fear of failure by pushing my comfort zone.

While Momma Nature was carrying on with storm after impressive storm this morning on the mountain, poor Zaydee suffered. She shivered and quivered her way through thunder, hail and the dramatic racket of rain on my metal roof. Zaydee crawled under my legs up and under my armpit and squeezed herself behind me on the couch. Poor thing.

Last year about this time my nieces, Zaydee and I weathered similar storms while exposed on a ridge in the Crazy Mountains. I had reason to be concerned in our situation. We did what we could to minimize the potential for danger while we huddled and laughed our way through the storms before scooting back down the trail and sliding down snow slopes to better shelter.

Zaydee was in the comfort and shelter of my cabin today while the storms raged outside, yet she shook as much as she did on the mountain top last summer. Her reaction made me think of how much drama and energy I can lose at times in the studio when really the “danger” is in my own mind.