I put off writing this post for about two months because I was scared that my website wasn’t perfect enough for an “author website” and that I wasn’t a talented enough writer to try to keep up with writing a blog. That because I do not have a college degree I am not, nor could I ever be, considered an author of substance. That I would have a misplaced or missing comma and the world of nitpickers would call me out on it all over Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. They still might, but I have moved past the point of caring. I am taking the leap . . . the plunge . . . the jump and I am diving headlong into my journey. I hope that you will come along and maybe find yourself encouraged along the way.
Fear of Failure
was a term used for many years by self-help gurus everywhere. If you didn’t try something or if you tried yet didn’t succeed the root of your problem was Fear of Failure.
Then some brilliant philosopher changed the phrase to the Fear of Success. If you didn’t try something or if you tried yet didn’t succeed, it was because you had a Fear of Success.
Fear is a Powerful, Paralyzing Force
Fear can stop you dead in your tracks, rendering you unable to speak, to think, to act. It will lie to you and tell you that if you take the leap of faith, your wings will not open. You will plummet to the earth, and all the other little birdies will circle you on the wings of eagles while you hop along on your tiny little bird legs trying to find something else to jump off of. If you are brazened enough, you ignore the fear and continue to search for things bigger and taller to hop off of until you develop enough wing strength and confidence to sustain you in flight.
Sometimes, you discover something high enough, grand enough, or significant enough that you are excited yet terrified shitless to jump off of, so you stand and peer over the edge of the precipice and debate whether you can take the tiniest tiptoe closer toward the edge or not.
Sometimes you screw up and slip and fall off the ledge.
Or something pushes you.
Does that mean that a higher power pushed you off that cliff to force you to prove to yourself that you can fly?
If the higher power had enough faith in you to push you, surely you could gather enough confidence in yourself to try to find your wings—to reach beyond the limitations of your worries and beyond the boundaries of—yep you guessed it—fear.
There is an explanation for everything and a hundred different ways to explain it all. Maybe it boils down to the fear of putting yourself out there. The fear of exposing your most vulnerable parts and baring your soul to the world.
“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.” Steven Pressfield “The War of Art”
The above is a lovely little quote I ran across after I began working on this post, fitting is it not?
The last seven-ish months of my life I have endured several episodes of cliff pushings/plummetings/jumpings.
The first time I was pushed—by my ineptness or by the hand of God, take your pick. After the initial plunge, I jumped a few times of my own free will. I was scared to death, but I survived. My most significant leap so far was sending my first completed novel in for a manuscript critique. I had to listen to my “inspiration song” four times before I could hit the send button . . . I also cried a little.
As scared as I am, I am also determined to succeed. The main driving force behind this train is the fear of embarrassing myself or my family name by doing less than what it takes to get the job done.
Now if I try and fail, you can chalk it up to whichever “fear of” you want to call it. The only thing I won’t call it is finished until I have given it my all.
Renée Gallant
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to share with your friends, family or anyone you think could use a little push. Feel free to leave a comment, and if so inclined, please sign up for my newsletter for updates on my current works in progress and sneak peeks. I will not blow up your e-mail, and I will not spam you. I swear!!