What is holding you back?

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CREATIVITY - The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc. [Creativity Week starts here. Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.]

-from Google Images

Are you having trouble kicking creativity into high gear? My terrific guest blogger may have the reason...  Elizabeth of Things Bright is back today getting to the heart of what holds us back.

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"What is holding you back? What always holds us back? Fear. We are afraid. Sometimes we are afraid and we don't even know it. Our fear is rationalized with things like, "I don't have the time," or "I don't know how to do that, so I’ll learn later." Or, "It's not good enough yet." We are afraid that others will see the 95% great in our art and still point out the 5% flaw. We are afraid that no one else will get it; that no one else will be as excited or as stoked about our creations as we are. We are afraid of what others will say.

The fear that inhibits our creativity is a much bigger question than how to think of more cool stuff for an Etsy store . Or how to market it better. The same fears that seek to take us down in all areas of life are the same fears that affect our creativity. "What if other people don't like it?" "What if I am not good enough?" "What if my creation turns out to not to mean much?" "What if I am the only one who thinks this way?"

One thing I was afraid of was the permanency of the Internet. I have a lot of passions and I love to communicate, so I have a lot to say. But I know I'm human, so I'm sure I'll say something stupid. Or wrong. That will live forever online. Ugh. This fear had kept me from -really- writing on my own blog in any consistent, focused way until recently. But it wasn’t really the permanency of the Internet that I was afraid of....

Accepting that fear is the main thing inhibiting our creativity allows us to take steps to conquer it. Even the basic acknowledgment that fear is what is hindering our creativity strips it of some of it's power. It is no longer that Giant Unnamed Horrible Feeling. It is simply the Fear of Rejection. Recognizing that we are just like every other human being on the planet with a normal fear of rejection strips it of even more power. Named enemies are not as powerful as "Fears Who Shall Not Be Named" (Yes, we watched Harry Potter with the littles recently). And common enemies are not as powerful as the fears that tell us we are the only ones bad or dumb enough to have this problem. 

Really, telling yourself that you are not special is a great way to become more special, more creative. You are not special. Everyone is creative. And everyone is afraid of rejection.. 

Telling myself these truths released me to write and create more. I wasn’t afraid of Google’s memory, I was afraid others would reject me. But the fact that the Fear of Rejection is so ever-present in us, so common, so normal, made it just a regular life challenge. It is something I can get through, rather than some impassable mountain. I can even mock it, saying, “This happens to everyone, everyday, and I refuse to give in to this silliness.” And then I ignore the fear and enter the joy of my creative zone.

What rejection are you afraid of? How can naming it help you release more of your creativity? What is your creative joy that needs to ignore fear?"

All the best,

Elizabeth

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Thank you so much Elizabeth. As I consider this I feel there are fears I have yet to name... I believe I am on the  verge of a creative break through but the unnamed thing is standing in my way... I will use this week to find it! Thank you.

Elizabeth has a companion post to this over on her blog. do visit her there and comment  here and name the fears you will no longer let rule you!

Next Post: Creativity where you need it most

My 13 bliss virtues are 

joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, 

romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are exploring  Creativity. 

Next week is all about Passion

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