People do amazing things when they tell themselves, "I CAN."<br /><br />I had never tried to do a manipulation with problematic shadows or hidden clothing before I sat down to do this piece. By the end, I had reconstructed the left side of her coat (complete with the holes for the buttons), lightened up her chest and neck, and deleted/blended/cropped/pasted/fused layer after layer until I was satisfied. I did it all in the DeviantArt Muro photo editing app.<br /><br />I had never done anything like this project before. So how did keep the confidence to complete it? Telling myself "I CAN."<br /><br />Anything has to be done for the first time to do it a hundred times. Anything you haven't done isn't a roadblock; it's a challenge to teach you how to overcome and grow.<br /><br />So do the things that scare you. Do the things that make you anxious. Do what you might fail at the first time, or the second, or the thousandth.<br /><br />And keep telling yourself, "I CAN."