I've been thinking about mentors a lot lately. There is a value in them once you get past yourself. I think we all want to do things on our own and we think itll hold more satisfaction if we do. There might be some truth to that, but it usually isn't the most efficient route.
I've had a few people as i've aged who I would consider mentors in various areas, sometimes they fill that role and they dont even know they do. There are other authors for example who i've learned from and they will never know about it. Some of those authors wanted that to happen, Stephen King for example wrote a whole book called "On Writing", and its sole purpose was to help other writers (great book btw, check it out).
Some mentors are passive. I have a friend, lets call him..Jeff. Jeff is a very successful man and he spent years in a field im relatively new to, IT. He built a company over two decades into something he was recently able to exit in a manner that means he is now retired in his middle forties. I look up to Jeff, he has given me a lot of advice about my career and my day job, and he is one of those people who you find yourself trying to emulate a little. He isn't quick to anger, he's good with people. All the soft skills required to keep himself afloat in business, and hes humble with it. Admirable in my opinion. Jeff however doesn't really know hes my mentor, hes my friend for sure, but I'm not sure he is fully aware of the positvie impact he has on me an my life choices.
Some mentors are very intentional. I have another friend, lets call him Pingu, because its a funny inside joke and I'm not going to explain it.
Pingu is an intentional mentor, he understand what I'm trying to do with my writing and hes along for the ride. He gives me guidance when I ask for it, he knocks me back on course when I veer off. These kinds of mentors are a little more rare, it takes a lot of effort on their part to take an active interest in another persons outcomes, it takes time and effort. Which means it is the responsibilty of the mentee not to squander the advice.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, it has been my own personal realisation that ego is the great killer of all art, maybe all progress. We don't start the project because it need to be perfect (like somehow we are the only human alive not permitted to make mistakes). We dont ask for help because we want to "do it on our own", this again prevents us from starting, or at least means we might not produce the quality we are actually capable of.
Writers, artists, creators, Hell even software engineers are all fighting the same battle. We need to create the thing and we want or need to do it in a time constraint. There is a whole community of people out there who do the same thing you do. I personally didn't have the courage to start until I reached out and saw what others are doing. Go find your mentor.
But dont take mine, they are busy.