Why being visible & creative takes a shitload of bravery

Here’s the thing. Not many people are talking about how scary it is to put yourself out there; how scary it is to make yourself completely visible. And how brave that makes you.  

They’re not talking about how vulnerable you feel when you create something that comes straight from your heart, and you know that there’s every chance your nan and everyone you went to school with ten years ago will see it.

How you know you have so much to say, so much to tell and so much to give but that doesn’t mean that you want everyone and their pet hamster to know. That’s just something that comes with the territory.  

When you stay up all night working on something that sets you on fire only to feel that excitement disappear when you start looking at stats and metrics (the shit we’re told to believe is important).

Or when ten people tell you ten nice thing and one person says something shitty and it’s that one comment that you hear in your mind whenever you’re about to start on a new project.

Or that your parents have never read your blog, or seen your work, or know what you do. Or how your friends just don’t get it.

How you sometimes feel embarrassed telling people what you do, or what you want to do, because you fear being judged and fear what they’ll say.

And how you try not to admit to anyone just how much it matters to you because you're worried how it's going to turned out, and you don't want to look stupid.

It feels so vulnerable because our creative endeavours are our most heartfelt expressions of ourselves. And in the I’m fine, how are you? culture we live in, we don’t have enough of those deep conversations. It's like nobody wants to have the conversations. 

I’m just gonna come out and say it.

Every piece that you put out there? That’s some serious brave shit right there.

And the scale doesn’t matter. You could be pressing publish on a blog you think no one is ever going to read, or you could be getting up on stage performing your own songs. It all takes that leap of faith, that push and that conviction in yourself to put yourself out there as yourself.

There’s a world of people who wish they had your guts. And a world full of people that are desperate to make themselves visible but are scared of the reactions.

(If you are in that camp of people who want to but are shit scared, you’re not alone. Read this and this).

Remember, when you’re procrastinating, beating yourself up and finding it hard to do the work, take some time to remind yourself that what you’re doing is brave.

And it isn’t just brave.

It’s rebellious and revolutionary. No matter what it is you do, every time you create something, every time you put something (and yourself) out there, right there with it is your vision of a different future, a glimmer of hope and something that could only come out of you.