Standing By Words, Wendell Berry

There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then, that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Heard this quote in Writer's Hour. It reminds me of the post "Reality has a surprising amount of detail".

Empowering the Muse of Realization looks like "colliding with the world regularly". This is something I tell myself over and over again, especially when the Muse of Inspiration becomes too prevalent, feeding my mind with grandiose visions and endless confidence. "You could head a nonprofit, you could start a meal prep business, you could start a cat toys business, you could become the fastest runner in your age group, you could learn the guitar, you could surf, and on and on" my muse tells me. Despite how fun they are to indulge in, I forcibly stop these thoughts because often, even something like build a personal website for a friend, writing a blog post, or cooking dinner takes much longer and is more complicated than I realize.

The good news is that the next time you engage with the same reality for eg, cooking the same meal you've cooked before, it's much easier and as a bonus, you have a nutritious meal on the table. Also living this way makes you appreciate that everything you see in the world is a product of someone's time, thought, and life. (also "the world is a museum of passion projects")