Getting Started: What I Need to Do vs. What I Want to Do

Bleah.  After a week or so of lovely spring/summer-ish weather, the marine layer came in with a vengance.  I have a lot of trouble moving during cold weather, in addition to being in quite a bit of pain most of the time.  I suffer from fibromyalgia and other overlapping issues, and getting to things that demand my attention doesn't always happen.  It's often a pushme-pullyu situation:  I know there's a lot that needs doing, so I have a choice to make - do I push through the pain to get it all done and then not be able to move for three days afterwards, or do I choose ONE thing (or two, if I'm lucky) to get done & cross off my ever-growing list?  Why is it that when I know there are projects that NEED to get done (especially for friends & clients), I almost always drift off into mental design mode?

I think I will rethread the serger tonight and whip out those pajama pants for the boys, since they are UFO's that were supposed to be under the tree for Christmas.  I can just about do that in my sleep (LOL - no pun intended!), and since the two of them are the same size now (and when exactly did that happen?), I can do them assembly-style.  While I'm doing that, I am daydreaming about putting together some knit fabric and thrift shop sweaters I've been stashing away bit by bit to conjure up something along these lines:

Only problem is, I tend to want to be this creative (and looking at these cardigans & tops, I'm so positive that I CAN be this creative) but end up frozen in fear of failure when I sit down to design something.  I wonder what makes us play mental games with ourselves like this?  

So, I'm thinking that perhaps I might readjust my frame of mind and allow for some play, whether it works out or not.  I've collected a number of pieces of material (a lot of it from the dollar bin at Jenny's Fabrics) as well as jackets & sweaters that I have been intending to refashion into purses & "new" garments.  Maybe I can get into more of a work mode if I alternate a client project with a refashion project, and then maybe a garment from scratch.  I wonder if that will help me to stay on track.  My primary goal this year is to get stuff into my idle Etsy shop...and then see what happens.  Now I'm off to serge some pajamas before I can't move any more tonight....