Your Creative Backpack, Part II
This is the second in a series of posts about setting out on a creative adventure. If you haven’t read Part I and would like to, you can find it here.
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Okay, then. Your backpack is emptied out and freshly-laundered. It even smells nice. Imagine that.
You’ve thought about the two lists, the things you need and the things you don’t. You’re wondering where you can find a spyglass, and whether or not your willingness to be exactly where you are can co-exist with your apprehension.
And if there will be room in your pack for your misgivings and your uncertainty, and your fear that you will end up doing something badly.
Is there room for fear on this adventure?
Let’s consider.
A Few Words About Fear
First, know this: fear comes along of its own accord. You can’t send it to stay with your mother, or put it in a kennel for the duration. Fear wants to be with you.
And there’s a very good reason for that. You, creative adventurer, are a gentle spirit with a tender soul, and fear wants to make sure you don’t get hurt.
If you’ve been hiding your creative desires for awhile, your fears and misgivings will likely surface quickly and often as you set out on your adventure. And since they’re going to dog your heels anyway, you might as well claim them and give them a place to hang out right from the start.
So…
Extend an Invitation
Maybe something like this:
Hello, fears and misgivings. I’m going on an adventure, and I wouldn’t dream of leaving you behind. I even cleaned out my backpack , so there’s lots of room for you and all your friends. What do you say?
Just don’t put them into the nice, roomy compartment of your pack, where they’ll stick like cockleburs to everything else you put in there. Tuck them into the handy pockets on the outside, instead. Yes, the ones where your cell phone and water bottle usually go.
And Show Some Respect, Already
Fear is a natural reaction to unfamiliar things, and every creative adventure is full of the unfamiliar. When you acknowledge your fear — when you invite it to keep you company in your creative backpack instead of trying to outrun it or deny it — you’re acknowledging a powerful part of yourself, and offering it a place of respect, somewhere snug and secure, where it can keep an eye on things and get your attention without growing all out of proportion.
Art and fear are not strangers.
Opening up your creative heart is a radical act, and fear is a rational response. Your challenge is to feel the fear, acknowledge, thank and bless the fear, and let your heart be opened anyway.
