Half the battle when starting something is the long road it would take for it to end. When you pick up a long book you flick through the chunk of pages or begin an essay on a blank page, trying to visualise it decorated with your thoughts after the first draft. For me at least, I feel the pressure to finish something before its even started. As you could probably guess, this is an annoying and limiting thought process to have.
Not every beginning needs an end. When you go for a walk in the woods, you take in the soft breeze and bluebells sprinkled along the floor before you reach the end. You take time to appreciate the journey. It is not in coming to the end that made you enjoy it. Perhaps for a more relevant analogy: You don’t get ready for the night looking forward to the crushing hangover in the morning, you look forward to seeing your friends, getting some drinks and having a good time. Saying that, I am aware of the millions of Facebook posts claiming that the journey is better than the final destination. But I think its important to consider just how much you learn on the journey, in the mistakes you make and how you learn from them.
Speaking from personal experience, I began writing a book for my sister, inspired by a dream I once had (whether I should be embarrassed about this fact or not stands with you). After 2 years of trying to finish the entire book, I moved on. Accepting that the plot and characters were simply not doing anything to help me finish the book. They did help me understand that writing a ‘silly little romance book’ isn’t easy, it helped me become a better writer and also gave me something to talk about here. It wasn’t a good book nor was it well received by my singular audience (I’m pretty sure she has never opened it to this day). But you get the point: not every beginning needs an end.