Once upon a time, there was a little girl who discovered books could take her to faraway places. She could meet people and animals that she could never meet in the real world. She would go off to her room with a book, and experience exciting adventures.
As she grew, she realized she could create her own stories. Her joy of writing blossomed. Writing for pleasure provided peace, in a hectic world. One day, she decided to submit her writing to a contest. The results were encouraging, so she continued to write.
Recently, questions flooded her mind. Why was she writing? Why was she blogging? What was the point of it all? Yes, she loved to write, but she was feeling overwhelmed. Her peaceful writing world was slipping away. As her peace diminished, self-doubt took hold and began to steal her joy.
Yesterday, that girl received an e-mail from an editor. The encouraging words within the e-mail reminded her of why she wrote. The perfect timing of this email was an answer to all of her questions. She was ready to walk away. Instead, empowering words from a stranger, told her to keep writing.
Self-doubt can paralyze our creativity. Our dreams and goals are uniquely ours. Continue to do what gives you joy and push away the self-doubt, and it will make you stronger. And most importantly, surround yourself with people who constantly encourage you…thank you, Derek, Mom, Dad and Jan.
I’m curious, what’s your secret weapon to deal with self-doubt?