Risk being the Fool…
Why are beginnings so scary?
Some beginnings, of course, are scarier than others. Beginning a New Year is not so scary most of the time. Usually we are grateful to be alive and able to see in a New Year. Beginning a good meal, a new book, or a movie is seldom scary unless intentionally so.
But two beginnings are always scary - new relationships and new creative projects.
New relationships are scary because if they don’t work out someone might get hurt and that someone might be me!
New creative projects are scary because if they don’t work out - if no one likes them, buys them, understands them, etc, then someone might get hurt and that someone is always going to be the creator, i.e. ME!
And here I am beginning a blog - something that is about both a new relationship (with you) and a new creative project. Now how much scarier can you get than that?
Maybe that is the reason I kept finding more research to do, changing my mind about the focus, listening to one more teleseminar before birthing this baby (OK – having a baby is the ultimate really scary combination of new relationship and new creative project and I should know – I have had three!)
Beginning relationships and creative projects require at least two things: commitment and the willingness to risk being a fool. And this is why they are scary.
In today’s world, we can do, change, access most things quickly and easily. Here today, gone tomorrow. Making a commitment to stay with a relationship or a creative project (which is really just a relationship of another kind) requires being willing to give time to something to grow and change and succeed and fail and succeed again. Most of us either are unwilling to be patient at all since everything else seems to arrive at the push of a computer key, or we are only willing to be patient through one or two failings. Then it gets too painful or too costly in time, energy, or money, and we give up.
And, of course, most of us are unwilling to be seen as the fool. The Expert? Absolutely, see my hand in the air waving at you? But the Fool? Oh no, experience that kid-in-class-with-the-wrong-answer-so-the-other-kids-laugh-at-you feeling again? Unh-unh. Been there, done that.
And yet, if I don’t risk being the fool by being wrong or inept, if I’m not willing to make the commitment to allow growth and evolution, how will I ever enter a marriage, start a new business, write a book, make a new friend, post a blog?
So, here I am - the committed Fool, stepping off into the Blog Abyss.
Paula
January 14th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
This is interesting to me because I am just half way through a book titled “The Courage to Write” which delves more deeply into the topic. What an eyeopener it’s been for me. Risking being the fool is the basis for all my fear of putting my writing out there. It’s also the basis for taking the easy way, the non controversial way in my writing. Here’s to more of just writing what I want to write and showing my real feelings in my written words.
January 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I admit it–I will use just about any excuse to keep from sitting down and actually writing. But that pales in comparison to what reasons I can come up with for not sending a piece out for review. Good to know my creative comes in handy, even when I am not being creative.
Bravo on stepping into the Abyss, Paula!!
January 24th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Filled with wisdom — that’s what your blog is. Count me as a regular reader.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Paula, I’m so glad you did take the risk! I read about your new blog in IWWG’s Network and knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. Thanks for your wise words.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Thanks, Shawndra, for visiting and your comment! I always value input from Guild members.