The greatest thing you can do to kickstart your creative career
Often we don’t succeed or even pursue our dreams at all because it requires us to go outside of our comfort zone. My mind was blown when I realised that avoiding going outside my comfort zone, was actually just the avoidance of a feeling. If you really think about it, there can be no true negative outcome, because even failure when seen as a lesson, is a positive. The only thing that happens if we ‘fail’ on our journey, is a bruised ego - a feeling. So when we start letting go of the fear of a feeling (because gosh it’s just a feeling we get them all the time whether we like it or not!), we begin moving forward without restriction. Our light can shine brighter when we let it, and to be on a creative journey that is exactly what is required of us. For me personally, I find this far from easy as I am naturally an introvert ++! But I am learning to put my vision before my fear.
See, unless you are skydiving or swimming with sharks, going outside your comfort zone is generally a very safe activity. If you really sit and think about it, nothing can go wrong in reality, all that may happen is you end up feeling hurt, defeated or embarased. Is that enough of a reason to stop doing what your higher self desires?? I think not! By giving power to the voice in your head that is fearing either discomfort or criticism, or the fear of being seen or being different, you are risking living a vanilla life. A life where you miss out on your wildest dreams, because of the chance of a bad feeling. The biggest thing in the way from you achieving everything you desire is just a pesky feeling and that is not a good enough reason to give up!
Here are some examples of the feelings and thoughts that may be holding you back. You feel too shy to share your latest work on social media. You feel imposter syndrome so you don’t apply to galleries or stores. You’re afraid of not being accepted in a competition, so you don’t apply at all. You think you are not good enough, so you don’t even start painting/creating at all. I’m sure there are so many more examples because these doubts/fears are present in all of us. Everyone feels these things and if you look deeply they generally started taking up space in our minds as a child. Doing inner child work can actually identify the root cause of these feelings and help you to gain further clarity and cleanse your path going forward. For example, I was ‘shy’. I blushed if anyone even looked in my direction as a child. So my coping mechanism was to blend in. I feared standing out, being in front of a crowd. So my survival method for life became, blend in and don’t draw attention. Unfortunately, this very survival method I developed as a child, works directly against my path to establish a creative business. I can’t draw people to my work, share my happiness and joy in art with others, if I don’t want to be seen! So, these fears, that no longer serve me, have had to be let go. I don’t need them anymore.
So the greatest thing you can do to kickstart your creative career is overcoming the avoidance of a negative feeling. This is true not only for a career in the arts, but really can be applied to all aspects of life. Don’t live in fear of a negative feeling. Food for thought.
What negative feelings are holding you back??
I hope this helps you shine your light a bit brighter today.
Sarah x