Someone who has been a huge inspiration used to say something that has stuck with me: "We all have the potential to do great things. Most of us just won't." Ouch. Right?
I know why I have been putting off thinking out loud for years. I am scared. I am scared of what you would say when you read my posts. I am scared of what you would not say. I am scared that you would not even read any of my posts. I am scared that you would read my posts and that the blog would take over my life. I am scared of being scared. I am scared that you would start treating me differently in real life because of what I write here. I am also scared that you would be completely indifferent to what I write. Pretty paradoxical huh? I am scared that I won't like what I write. I have always been scared of that. I don't particularly like what I am writing right now, but I have decided to post it anyway. And that is scary.
I am scared. I know you are scared too. We are all scared of something. Or many, many somethings. I know you are. I also know you are scared of admitting you are scared. Like I am. Your heroes are scared too. I bet you knew that. How often do you remember to remember that? See the third third of this Webstock video for a reminder, it's just 5 minutes. Everyone is scared. I am scared. You are scared. Your heroes are scared. But they do great things anyway.
To quote the (self-described) unintentionally inspiring Merlin Mann, everybody's scared and the only difference is whether you're just going to keep doing cool stuff when you're scared. Because you're always going to be scared. But they can't eat you.
And they won't. Okay?
So I am done not doing what I want to do because I am scared. I am going to start thinking out loud. And I hope you'll join me. And I am scared that you won't. And I'm scared that you will and that I won't be able to keep up with you. But I am going to do it anyway. Because the universe doesn't care whether or not I'm scared (also a Merlin quote). I don't know how great it will be. Actually, scratch that. I do know it will not always be great. But it will be me doing what I want, and trying to do great stuff. And that is great.
I am scared but I am hungry. And I am going to be foolish. Let the dominoes fall.
What are you scared of?
Dessert: No One Needs Permission to be Awesome - blog post - by Merlin Mann
[Image credit: Victor Bezrukov]
..and apparently I didn't wait for your permission to find your blog, but hey I did it anyway !
ReplyDeleteYou're off to a good start, I believe 31 instances of "scared" is a good sign that you had quite a lot to overcome before finally pressing that "Publish" button, so cheers to that and many more to come I hope.
I might have mentioned this before by the way: You tend to over-think things... Are you familiar with the phrase "Jump and a net will appear ?"
Also, thanks for the introduction to Merlin Mann, seems like a cool guy to read.
Oh and I noticed you borrowed my "Recommended media" note, don't do that :P
Cheers ! (and thanks for the mention)
Welcome to the world of blogging, good start, it is normal to be scared from certain things, i am glad you found the courage to face your fear, because fear can sometimes block everything, so good luck
ReplyDeleteand waiting for your new posts.
@Fadi many thanks for the shout out on twitter! And thanks for the inspiration and tips. Merlin is a very fun guy. Even more fun in person. I hung out with him for a few hours after a talk he gave about protecting your time and attention to do your best creative work. Bummer I can't use the recommended media tag... it's a great tag.
ReplyDelete@Maria thanks for the welcome and encouragement, many more posts (and other cool stuff) in the works.
It was refreshing, honest and a great read. I was able to relate to it in so many different ways. Please keep writing :-)
ReplyDeleteMost people are scared of something, but not be able to articulate what they are scared of. That includes me. I was very scared of facing the truth. And I am finally doing it on my own terms. Knowing your fear is one of the first steps to overcome it. Great job on your first!
ReplyDelete