This post was inspired by many things. I recently had long-time friend come visit for a few weeks and we had a blast doing various things, but one of the highlights was the Bob Ross marathons Monday nights on Twitch TV (in fact, it’s on in the other room as I type this – if you didn’t grow up with Bob Ross for whatever reason, your life is incomplete. Remedy that immediately.).

At the end of these Monday marathons (and believe me, Mondays are easier to bear with Bob Ross. Trust me on this.), they play this little video:

For those unable to watch it right now, it’s a cute vid set to an auto-tuned remix version of some of Bob’s most commonly used phrases. Now, I despise auto-tune for a multitude of reasons, but I can’t for the life of me despise that song. (I bought it on iTunes – shut up.) It’s BOB ROSS, for fuck’s sake. He’s so much more than “happy little trees” and I will fight you on this.

But I digress.

Once the initial “dawww Bob Ross!” wore off (shut UP, I said – I like Bob Ross, okay?), I actually listened to the words and phrases in the song:

“This is your world. You’re the creator.”

“Believe that you can do it. ‘Cause you can do it.”

“Relax, let it flow.”

“All you have to do is practice.”

“There are no limits here.”

“Start out by believing here. *points to head*”

Granted, the show is The Joy of Painting, and painting is a creative endeavor, just like writing, so many of the same principles apply.

Every writer you’ve heard of (yes, even that one) has suffered at one time or another (usually at some point with every book) with themselves about everything you can think of. A crisis of confidence, faith, talent, whatever you want to call it – every writer does it at some point. When any of these things happen to you, I refer you back to the wisdom of Bob Ross above. I can’t pick just one of those phrases to rank highest – they’re all pretty damned accurate.

So the next time you have a creative crisis, remember the wisdom of Bob Ross, and believe that you can do it.

‘Cause you can do it.

That’s all the sparkly happy shit I have for you today. Now get back to work. Those happy little clouds aren’t going to fluff themselves.