This morning I saw a post in a new Facebook group that I just joined seeking people who are interested in writing health- and wellness-related articles. I was very excited to happen upon this opportunity since I am looking for paid writing gigs and I simply could not wait to answer the woman’s Facebook post. As I was replying to her message with the responses to the specific essay questions that she put forward, I was feeling full of anxiety. I wanted to get my email to her as soon as possible because there were tens of other people that would be seeing her post and replying to it as well. I answered the questions to her post quite thoroughly and was very proud with how well my responses came out—now all I had to do was hope and pray that she too would be impressed by my responses and she would pick me to write at least one of the essay topics.
I felt really drained after sending this email because I had dug deep down into my guts to reflect on some difficult health- and wellness-related experiences I had had in the past. I put my heart and soul into my responses, which led me to feel very vulnerable. Add to that, I really really wanted to be picked to write one of the essays to expand my confidence in my writing as well as my wallet.
I marveled at how intense the whole experience was to write so deeply and personally and put so much emotional investment into my responses without even knowing if she would pick me for the essays, let alone have the time to respond to my email. And for the first time I realized that this must be what life as an adult is about. You put your heart and soul into what you do, you work your ass off, you bare your soul for everyone to see—all without even knowing if people are going to support it; if you are going to get anywhere with it.
It’s just a risk you have to take because if you don’t step out of your comfort zone and pull out deep gut-wrenching parts of yourself, then you don’t even have a chance of getting to where you want to be. Especially if, like me, your goal is to be a self-help writer. But whatever you do, you are going to be putting yourself out there and it’s going to feel vulnerable; and you’re not going to know what the response is going to be or if there’s going to be a response at all. The important thing to remember is that no matter what the response ends up being, what you wrote, what you worked on, is valuable. Give yourself the affirmation that you deserve without waiting for and relying on outside approval. Because if everything that you do depends on external affirmation, you won’t last very long in this dog-eat-dog world.
Just remember that simply in the act of being vulnerable and giving from your deepest self you are worthy and you are wonderful. If you remind yourself of this each time you bare your soul and pour your heart out to the world, you will save yourself a lot of emotional pain. And you will be happier and more fulfilled in what you do.
Mindful Nuggets 