Choose Courage and Take One Step Forward.
This is the first post I’m sharing since I officially announced that I had started Accelerate Arts. I made that announcement at the end of September. Here it is November… and I’m finally posting my first blog.
If you’re wondering why the long delay I can tell you in one four-letter f-word.
...Fear.
Yep. It took me 38 days from announcing the start of this brand new baby venture of mine on October 6 to muster up the courage to hit ‘publish’ on this dang blog post today. Over a month. That’s a lot of TikTok time wasting.
Even more ironic is that I knew from day 1 that I wanted my first blog post to be about choosing courage in order to create meaningful change in one’s life. Because it takes courage to start a new business after all. And, I believe that you have to choose courage first. Courage is the key to opening the door to the life you want to live.
Now, if you’re reading this thinking, “..Ummmm. Glenda, let me get this straight. You want to coach creatives and artists to help them create transformations for themselves and you can’t even post a blog post without freaking out about it???”
I get it. I’ve been thinking the same thing. But hear me out because there’s a reason I’m sharing this story with you. It all comes full circle I promise. (After all, you’re reading this. Aren’t you?)
I’d like to say that I have no problem choosing courage over fear given the amount of times I’ve had to do that throughout my life. But, clearly, choosing courage is not so easy since for 38 days straight I woke up choosing fear and not courage.
Here’s a list of all the stories I convincingly told myself about why I couldn’t finish my first blog post.
My day job got really busy. It actually did, but not THAT busy because…TikTok videos…
I don’t have enough time to focus and write consistently.
If I start writing blogs then I have to promote them on social media and that’s going to take SO MUCH WORK!
It’s overwhelming to work a full time job, be a parent of a second grader and start a side business. (When will I ever see my friends and watch my TikTok videos?)
I’m too tired after a long day to focus on writing. My mind is mush and the creativity’s long gone.
I’m not a good writer.
Seriously, friends, I can go on for days.
Want to know the real reason it took me so long?
Fear of not getting it nailed perfectly the first time.
Fear of criticism (imposter syndrome).
Fear that I wouldn’t write anything of interest.
Fear that I’d write something full of typos and grammatical errors. (Because I’m not a good writer” remember?)
Fear of the time consuming work that would come out of writing a blog consistently and (gasp!) actually getting clients.
Fear of being seen.
Fear of being successful...and being recognized for it.
If you’re a creative in any sense of the word, I bet you probably resonate with that last list quite a bit. The struggle is real, friend.
When I choose fear over courage, here’s how it shows up in my daily life.
I rewrote this entire post four times.
I claimed writer’s block and went to bed.
I found all the ways in the world to procrastinate.
I spent hours researching all the ways to write the best blog post. (Didn’t learn anything.)
So what finally broke the spell? Honestly….talking with another coach.
Seriously, even coaches need coaches. Being a great coach is not about having our lives figured out 100%. It’s about knowing that I am a work in progress just like you. It’s being able to recognize when I’m experiencing my own limiting beliefs and self doubt despite having solid proof that I have what it takes to be successful. It’s knowing when to ask for help when I’ve self-coached myself in circles and I can no longer decipher between up and down.
By talking with my own coach, I was able to vocalize out loud my thoughts about what was standing in the way of writing that first post. To me, this blog post is me choosing courage and taking my first outward facing step to making my dream and new business real. Uploading this post starts the machine in which all the gears and cogs and widgets begin moving in the same direction. And you know what? That’s scary.
My coaching session helped me I recognize that I was worrying about too many things that were out of my control. I was over anticipating the worst case scenario by envisioning how busy and chaotic my life was surely going to become once I started taking coaching. But in reality, my worst case scenario of how my life might change after getting clients was actually my BEST case scenario. It’s exactly what I want to happen. But I was focusing on all the things that could potentially go wrong instead of what could go right.
Are you still with me? Is your mind blown yet? Mine sure did when I came to that realization about 30 minutes into my coaching session.
There’s a Fine Line Between Courage and...
I often think about something my dad said to me about courage when I was 24 year old and about to move 1700 miles by myself from Virginia to Denver to start a new life on my own. He said it the night before I left for Colorado.
“You know, there’s a fine line between courage and stupidity.”
I mean, is that not a quintessential “dad-ism”?
“Gee. Thanks, Dad. That’s reassuring. [insert eye roll] Not really sure which side of that line I’m on right now.”
He quickly changed his tune and said that what was doing was very courageous. He didn’t think that moving across the country by himself was something he would have ever had the courage to do when he was in his 20s.
At the end of it I remember saying, “Well... I guess I’ve got to go through it in order to find out which side of the line I land on?”
Choose Courage and Take One Step Forward
The moral of all this is to know that courage helps us move forward through the fear so that we can become the person we’re meant to be on the other side. I knew this, but had forgotten it and needed the help of a coach to get grounded in that mindset once again.
Growing up as a musician my whole life was a daily battle between choosing courage or fear. When l look back on my childhood and relive all the auditions, recitals and performances I saw a pattern for how I practiced choosing courage over fear.
Declare what it was that I wanted to accomplish.
Commit to doing it.
Then, most importantly, take one small step forward in the direction of that declaration.
That’s it. Just one step forward. Rinse and repeat. Keep going with one small step until I accomplished what it was that I set out to do.
In talking with my coach about writing this blog, I realized that the first step in making this new venture “real” for me was posting this blog post.
So… [breath in, breath out] Ready… Set.... “Click”.
Did Any of This Resonate With You?
Share with me in the comments a time when you felt paralyzed by fear. How did you overcome it and choose courage in the end? Your process could help someone else in need of encouragement.
And, if you’re feeling stuck and feel that talking to a coach can help you identify the blocks that are holding you back, feel free to reach out.
