I hope there are some people on here who can relate...

I'm an artistic person who needs a career doing something creative, however I lack confidence and never think anything I do is good enough. Artistic careers can be pretty competitive, and I lose confidence before I even start because I think that there's no way I could compete. (I remember in my drawing classes I used to get so upset with my drawings that I would need to leave the classroom to go cry [EMBARRASSING]) I earned half of my Communications Design Diploma... (Digital Media / Web Design / Programming) and left school to have children. My oldest is now just about four. If I wanted to go back to school now I would need to start from the beginning as there's no way I could pick up where I left off four years ago. Right now I'm really into Up-cycling/Painting/Decoupage, and feel like if I were to go back to school it would be for Fine Arts instead of Digital Media...

I know I won't be happy if I'm not doing something creative as a career... but I can't get the confidence... and don't even know which direction to go. I'm 28 now and am feeling like I should know by now what I'm going to do. I can't seem to pick something, and be confident enough to see it through. Advise? :(

I'm not a visual artist, but I am a writer, so I understand where you're coming from! And I think the best advice I can give is: I know it's really hard, but try to do something for your art, even something small, every day. Shout down the voice in your head that says it's never gonna be good enough. (If it helps, imagine it as an angry little gnome or some 10-year-old on XBox telling you that, the sort of person from whom that sort of thing is just...laughable.) And if you keep working, you'll keep getting better. If you don't get rid of anything, just keep it somewhere (a folder on your computer, a shelf in your closet) then you can pull it out and see how much you've improved, just by doing a little bit of work every day.

I see nothing useful in a competitive way. It's just a way to life. Not my way. Simple.

Share opinions could be interesting, even when two are not agree with each other. But when I smell something of superficiality, like competition, instead of a real purport issue, I'll lost my interest.

I'm a little backwards to show my art. (The most is not on the internet).