It can be hard, this time of year, if you're searching for "the one".

Everyone else seems so happy, so in love, and your life is suddenly kinda grey in comparison. You dream of bumping into it on the street, chuckling awkwardly and getting a cup of tea together. You look a little bit extra around you, wondering if it's out there... 

Whether you'll also find the idea that is right for you.

I have a confession.
I didn't follow my own advice.

In fact, I did the complete opposite of what I think is best, and I had no idea I was doing it.

To tell you this story, I need to back up a few weeks and tell you what happened when we went into the new year.

It seems that a burst of self-doubt has adjusted our course. I'm doing everything I can to get us back on track, but I need your support in this. 

If you could stop second-guessing me and let me do my job, that would be very helpful. Can you do that?

Your beloved creative project, the one you were so pumped up about, the one you dreamed about, has transformed. Where you once could barely keep your fingers away, you now have to drag yourself. It takes some time for you to accept it, but it's ever so apparent once you do.

You've fallen out of love with your project.

How could this happen? You were so good together. 

We have too much respect for The Craft.

We do! Just listen to this exchange that went on the other day.

The Craft said

You will write something neat and proper and interesting.

And I responded, head bowed

Yes master.

To begin something, whether it's a creative project or something else, rarely happens in one moment.

Beginning is a process and it's a hard one. There are so many moments when it can end before you get past those first steps. So many thresholds you need to be brave enough to step over.

Let's look at the four steps of beginning, and what we have to do to not get stuck halfway through the start.