Getting over Fear

As promised, this post is going to be about Fear. We all experience fear, but it’s how we deal with that fear that truly makes us who we are.

Last time I talked about Doubt and how its trying to hold me back. Well, Doubt is able to make me question everything, Fear has the ability to paralyze me if I let it. Fear of people not liking my book. Fear of never being published. Fear that my writing isn’t good enough. Here’s a little tip that I tell myself whenever Fear tries to get in my way: I remind myself that as of now all of these things could be true. I am not published and if I don’t try, I never will be. I won’t know if people like my book or writing if I don’t let them read it. My fears are irrational and I just have to keep telling myself that.

Sometimes, in order to push myself I will use my fear as a challenge. If I’m afraid of how someone will view my writing, I will give it to someone to read. I tell myself to keep going because I made it this far (i.e finishing the novel) so I might as well continue my editing. It is the only way I will know for sure if my writing is good enough.

It’s easy to let Fear take over and hold you back. I could give up on my writing right now and no one would be the wiser, except me. I am in that stage where I write for myself. I read a quote the other day that said, “Write what you want because no one cares.” I have this quote hanging on my wall as a reminder that I can do what I want. Now is the time to embrace my fear and just go for it because at this moment I have nothing to lose.

How do you get over your fear?