I write constantly. My writing demons help.
Usually, I write with my expensive fountain pen collection, occasionally at a keyboard on my Mac or iPad, and rarely by dictating audio recordings.
I have thousands of handwritten pages and thousands more e-notes, on hundreds of topics and themes, created over the last decade or so. Some days that depth and breadth motivate and inspire. Some days I am overwhelmed and paralyzed by it all.
Paralyzed about how to make sense of it all.
In either case, inspired or smothered, I always write more. The collection grows deeper and I’m no closer to becoming the publisher of my material that I envision and grasp at, constantly.
So here’s how I face the fear and resistance. Here’s how I respond to the call and the inspiration while confronting the following fears and resistance.
“There’s so much, how can I manage all this?”
Most writers would kill to possess the relentless rush of words and ideas that the Mystery has granted me.
So, I will put one foot in front of the other. One day at a time, one article or essay or post at a time. ‘Journeys of a thousand miles’ and all that.
“What if my ideas and premises are lame or irrelevant or worse, vague and obfuscated? What if no one notices or cares?”
This is not for me to decide. Only my readers, the audience, and the marketplace can answer those questions. And I become more useful and compelling in my art only by engaging the global mind.
So that I will. By the hundreds. Maybe by the thousands.
“What if my voice is thin, my art and craft weak, my style laughable and amateur?”
I simply don’t believe those fears. But they won’t go away, so I will embrace those dreads as a healthy path to mastery and excellence. Anyway, most of those who will or might read my works don’t care about perfect literary form. So I can get away with treating the craft as a constant work in progress.
“This is a lot of work, requires considerable attention, focus, effort, and always takes twice as long as I intend.”
Whine, whine, whine.
Every fool’s got a reason for feeling sorry for himself,
And turning his heart to stone.
Bruce Springsteen, Better Days
Anything worth doing is worth the dedication, commitment, and labor required to find the flow states where it all starts to be effortless and spontaneous. With patience and practice, this all becomes a joy.
“What’s the point? What if nobody notices? What if the time, effort, and emotional investments far exceed any impact on the world, on real people, or on me?”
Take the leap, make the plunge, practice nerve and courage to outlast the doubt. None of those fears can be real unless I give this process years of persistence.
I trust that grace and karma will lead and provide beyond anything I can imagine or predict now.
I have been provided an entire series of staggering gifts. My many artistic wishes have come true. I will not allow these tired, clichéd doubts to distract. They are my choice, and I have the power to decide otherwise, every day when I pick up a pen or open a window on my devices to push my voice out into the Great Unknown.
All outcomes in business happen only through the experiences we create.
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I’m Bob Berry — researcher, speaker, writer, and innovator on the art of compelling experience.bob@itstheusers.com / LinkedIn / http://ItsTheUsers.com
