Finding the Courage to Begin

Have you ever found yourself stuck between dreaming and doing? Between the comfort of preparation and the resistance of taking action.

Ah, to lie in bed upon waking and imagine the glorious writing I’ll soon create. To walk, what beautiful sentences flow through my mind. Yet, when the moment arrives to transition from thought into action––to actually sit down and write––those glorious sentences evaporate. Suddenly, there are a million things that must be done this minute. 

Each morning I’m humbled by this challenge: to move from the dream of creating into action. In the safe distance of preparation, there are no doubts, no mistakes. Only the bliss of what might be. Come on, I urge myself, just start. You can write badly. I set the timer for 25 minutes for a short burst. Even that can feel like an eternity. Thoughts swirl: What exactly should I write? What will excite people? Get likes, be approved of? The pressure builds. So I ask myself what I would like to write about. What thoughts and questions are pressing into my heart and burning under my skin?

That’s when I freeze. I’ll have to reveal myself: moved into the unknown, into risk. With showing up comes the possibility of criticism, not measuring up or even rejection. Of being thought daft or dumb or crazy. 

What if I reframe this thought and allow my fear of failure to become a secret room where magic dwells? What if I allow myself to keep going out of curiosity and suspense?

I know from other creative works completed there has always been the push to get something out of my system that urged me to begin. Once something is down, I can revise it, make it better. The further I journey in creativity––a new song or essay or working on a new chapter in a book, there’s always the moment of terror. And yet, every time I meet the ever-changing guise of resistance and take a deep breath and begin, something comes. 

I’d love to hear from you on how you meet this challenge. And if you need support getting started, contact me.