I’ve loved photography for about seven years now and have taken thousands of photos. I’ve taken some that I immediately fell in love with and others that I hated as soon as I saw them. But there are others that I pass over initially only to rediscover years later and realize they are actually quite good.

I took pictures at the grand canyon about six years ago and thought they were awful when I flipped through the pictures right after I got back. I didn’t look at them again until about a year ago when I looked through all of the old pictures I’d taken. I was surprised to learn that now I actually liked these photos. I could see now that not only were the pictures composed well, but they looked good! I could not figure out why I hadn’t liked them at first.

The same thing happens with the things I write. There are pieces I love immediately after I write them and others that it takes me a while to realize the value of. Sometimes I don’t even understand what it is that I’ve written until months or years later when I can put the piece in a better context. Sometimes it’s the ideas that take on a new meaning, and sometimes it’s the words themselves that somehow seem to flow much better years later than they did at first.

And if this same surprise at my earlier endeavors occurs with two of the things I love most: writing and photography, I know it must happen in other aspects of my own life and in the lives of others. So often, we hold ourselves to standards higher than we can readily achieve. That doesn't mean that the thing we created isn’t good; in fact, it can actually be something amazing.

It’s important to step back from our work reanalyze it later. Our misconceptions can cloud our judgment initially when there is no reason for them to. After taking this break, it is much easier to get a clearer view on the subject at hand and find it is not nearly as awful as feared.

So step back. Take a breath. Clear your mind. And though it seems backward, come back to whatever you’re working on once you’ve finally completely forgotten about it.