My guiding principles in all areas of my work are founded around Bringing Creativity To Life - for you, your home, your business, your story. It’s my why - & what drives my work for myself & for others. Despite now feeling comfortable in my own skin and deciding to embrace fear, I can confess that it hasn’t always been that way, and understand how the knock on the door from imposter syndrome and self-doubt, is always waiting to return.
I left the corporate world 23 years ago to begin my dream of working for myself – and recognise that for many creatives fear is the biggest barrier for not attempting to live out their dreams. Despite doing my own thing I have learnt the hard way to listen to my own head, trust my intuition, and to put on my big brave pants, in order to give myself the chance to prove what I could be capable of, if I put my mind to it.
Over time I have learnt that actually fear is a superpower - a force that when harnessed can push us to come out of our comfort zones, overcome obstacles, face our demons, and discover talents we never thought possible. My new Substack, For The Curious - is a place for all those who want to do the same. And I hope signing up and coming on this journey with me will encourage you to do the same and to seize your dreams.
What’s the worst that can happen…
You fail? You make mistakes? You learn? You move on and you begin a new journey - richer for the adverse life lessons your first brave attempt gave you.
When you start to think about success as a series of past failures that propel you forward it switches your mindset away from thinking mistakes, let downs, upset and full-on implosion are the things that break you. Instead, they are what will make and define you, because without failure there is no measure of what success looks and feels like.
So, for those starting the year in a fearful place, not knowing how to realise your dreams, I say embrace fear, welcome fear, know fear will pass and return in equal measure, but understand that ultimately it will make your richer and stronger in the long run - emotionally, mentally, maybe financially…
A life lived in fear is really no life at all, and when our time in this world is so short, really what is the point in letting fear control you. Instead take back the power, use it to fire your belly, take you out of your comfort, and push you into a place that feels exciting, scary, maybe intimidating - but ultimately a happier place, because you will have opened the door to potentially achieving what you have dreamt about for so long.
'Don't fear failure, so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions could have, might have and should have.' Louis E, Boone.
Sometimes it helps to ask yourself a few questions…
What is it that stops me from doing what I feel destined to do?
Why do I allow these voices in my head to control my own direction?
Why do I allow family, friends, colleagues & strangers to dampen my ambitions?
Why do I spend so much time developing someone else’s ideas & give no time to my own?
Why am I am afraid of change and losing control?
What if I embarrass myself, or let myself and others down?
What if starting my own thing closes more lucrative opportunities working for someone else?
When you begin to recognise the hurdles that are holding you backand you start to rise above this, you will start to carve out time to define your own life, you begin to fulfil the potential of what you are destined to do. Whether that is to write the book, become an interior designer, sell your paintings, pick up the clay, plant the seeds in your garden, take the course, or learn to dance.
Conquering fear and then confronting resistance…
Having ideas that you want to shape and grow is definitely the easy part of becoming who you want to be. Particularly for a creative mind, as if you are anything like me those ideas come at you thick and fast every day and often in the middle of the night. The ideas are not the problem - the hardest part is actually sitting down and making the time to bring that vision to life.
Call that resistance, procrastination, laziness, excuses – it’s a fact that if you don’t set aside the time and dedication for some hard graft, you will never realise your dreams, and the idea, no matter how good, will not mature. And in many cases, it will vanish. I am a firm believer that ideas can find you and can leave you as quickly as they arrive - if you don’t do anything to give them wings. But to receive the ideas you must be in the zone creating regularly for yourself. But that is a whole new post!
So, if you are a ceramicist who never makes, a writer who never sits down to write, an artist who never picks up a brush, a designer who doesn’t want to meet new clients, or a photographer who hides in the dark room, then you will prevent yourself from doing the work, that could change your life, and enhance your everyday.
Once you see resistance and procrastination as the barrier and stop listening to the voices and the self-dramatization we all have the ability to create, you will start to see more objectively and fearlessly. No one likes a bully and certainly by my age, we have all come across them in our lives and in our heads. So set them free, loosen the grip they have on you and realise that the only person who can overcome the fear is you.
Discipline to create can often require a degree of isolation…
I know I am an extroverted introvert – and when immersed in a project such as book writing I am aware that I need to slightly isolate myself from my usual life. I turn up at my desk, the kitchen island, or the garden table, with the commitment to sit down at a similar time each day with the pure intention of writing. No matter whether I produce anything worth reading or sharing, it’s a commitment to the flow of words and ideas, whether a line or a full chapter. And when I know it’s time to stop for the day I don’t beat myself up for what has, or has not been ticked off my list, as I know through the commitment the words will come.
I think creating something is a bit like being in love. You have to show commitment, be there for the good and bad days, and know that all things that endure happily, require nurturing, time, loyalty and understanding.