I watched the most inspiring interview with Brene Brown and Chase Jarvis. The topic was creativity and in the interview Brene proposed that there is ‘no creativity without vulnerability’.
I recall sitting in front of my computer a few years ago, trying to write a blog post about the pain I felt for not being at the place in my life creatively that I longed to be. I could literally feel the angst inside as I sat wondering how to get there. I knew I had so much more to offer my world, but I was also trapped by my own gremlins of self doubt, insecurity and perfection.
I sat in my counselor’s office and he asked me, “When is the last time you truly felt alive?” I thought back to a few months before when I was speaking at some Lunch and Learn workshops at the BC Cancer Agency and recalled that surge of excitement and aliveness I felt while presenting. Then the counselor said, “Tracy, you need to find a way to do that more.” What he was really saying was that I needed to find ways to express that creative part inside of me.
Brene Brown has a remarkable saying about creativity that captures exactly how I felt:
“We are all creative. Unused creativity, creativity that has been disowned is not benign. It’s painful. It metastasizes and turns into dangerous things”.
I felt the truth of this to its full measure that day sitting in front of my computer. However, the fear is that you’ll put your art out there and no one will care. Yet, if I didn’t try, I’d be left with this metastasizing angst that was creating a chasm in my soul.
The choice to be vulnerable with the best parts of us is frightening because there are many negative stories we tell ourselves about our creativity. For example, I want to speak and present what I am passionate about. I love that forum, it makes me feel alive and that I am doing what I was meant to do. Is it risky and vulnerable? You bet! What if no one shows up? What if I get criticized? What if no one likes it? What if people say negative things about me? These are the gremlins that were on repeat in my head when I was putting together the workshop last month, Elevate 2016.
So, don’t do it for anyone else. Do it for yourself. Do it so that you can silence the angst of not doing it.
As you think about how the world can see your beautiful and creative part, be inspired by these words:
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they are never weakness.” ~Brene Brown
Tune in again tomorrow as we have a guest blogger who is going to share her own story of how tapping into her creative, changed her life.
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