Where is our Creative Courage? Don’t forget to show up and do the work.
You already have everything you need to go, to create.
There is much to be done. This is why we need to get after it while we can. We don’t have as much time as we think. You should create like it is your full time job. Act as if it is. Make it until you make it because the alternative is to not create, to not contribute, to be scared. And there’s no reason at all to be scared. You already have everything you need right now to move ahead and be successful. All you have to do is grant yourself that permission and go, move. It is there for the taking. All of it. It boils down to the decision you make, and then the discipline you create on a daily basis. Once the decision is made, it is yours. Seems so simple, and it is. That’s the beauty of it.
Don’t be scared into inaction.
The trouble is that most of us are scared, too scared to act, too scared to publish, too scared we are not good enough, too scared we can’t keep up, too scared due to social comparison. The bummer is that it can scare you into inaction, and we don’t want that.
What we want is creative confidence. What we want is creative action. What we want is to be creatively prolific. What we want is to leave our mark, our dent in the universe. We want people to know we were here and we made our difference. We enhanced peoples’ lives. We got after it. We don’t want to be forgotten. So, we choose to create and contribute and collaborate.
Inject meaning into your creativity.
It takes some degree of courage to create like it matters to others, especially in the beginning. You have to feel like you’ve got something to say, to make a creative statement, to go and move, to keep going despite wondering why you do. Is it worth it? Will it matter? What will the market think? What will I think? Worse, who am I to do this? ‘Who am I to do this?’ is the wrong question. It is vapid and content free.
The answer to ‘Who am I do do this?’ is Who are you not to do this? Why not you? If you have the gumption to make something from scratch — out of thin air, the ether — and put it out there, why wouldn’t you? It is your own creative stamp on the thing. Your mark. You go and make it happen. We say over and over again that we need you. The world needs your creativity now more than ever. Why would you hold it back from us? Forget playing small. No one wants you to. Create and play as big as you are. Bring it. Give us a show.
We’re all a little scared.
You are stealing when you hold back. Why steal from the rest of us? And from yourself? That does nothing for no one. Not for me. Not for you. You’re holding back because you’re a little scared? We’re all a little scared. Every one of us. Yet some of us choose to continue, to forge ahead, to go, to move. After awhile, the blank page scares you far less than it once did. You realize that there really is no need to be intimidated by a blank Word doc. There is no need to be intimidated by the blank Photoshop canvas. You just go. Even if it sucks, you just go. Even if you don’t feel it, you just go. Like the gym.
You come to realize that there is no need to hold back. Why play small? Who benefits from that? No one. Don’t play small in order to make others more comfortable around you. No. There is no need for that. The others around you may need help themselves, but they do not need you to dim your light just for them to feel better. That’s a bad strategy. Whatever it is you’re there for, you go for it. Blow them away. Showcase what’s possible to them and go. Hold nothing back. Leave it all out on the creative field after you’re done. You nailed it.
