My most recent post on Shift Your Spirits asks the question Why Not You? Why wouldn’t God communicate through you?
In the comments, Jen responded from the literal position of the writer, latching onto the shining sentence God doesn’t have a self-esteem problem, as the future author who asks “Who am I to write about _____?”
Today, the comments on Chris Garrett’s latest post echo the self-esteem issues of authorship, pointing out that the Great Ideas that never make it beyond your thoughts are lost.
Go to your local bookstore (or choose any blog you admire) and look at the physical evidence. There are literally thousands — millions — of people who have asked that question and moved beyond it to take action and follow through.
I’d wager that, if not every single author you see represented, the vast majority of them at some point, following the initial creative impulse — the What if… the seed of the Big Idea — asked themselves:
- “Who am I to believe that I can _____?”
- “Who says I have the right to write about _____?”
- “What makes me think I’m so special that I could _____?”
Who gives you permission? Who says whether you can or cannot?
I can guarantee one truth you should consider on your path to authorship:
Without question, without a doubt, 100% of the books you see, the blog pages you view, the big ideas you see out there have one absolute truth in common — they are all the result of someone who gave herself permission to start, to act, to follow through.
Who says your idea is good enough? Who says your book is worth writing? Who says the voice of your blog belongs in the global chorus? Who makes it so?
You are most like God when you act like it. God doesn’t have a self-esteem problem… Your creativity is your divinity.
Slade Roberson is an intuitive counselor, ATP®, professional blogger, and the author of Shift Your Spirits, Automatic Intuitive Response, and the PageCoach Problogging Tutorial Series. Slade on Blogging shares behind-the-screens internet marketing, self-publishing, and blogging strategies with other personal development writers, coaches, and healing arts practitioners.
It is a shame how common self-limiting thoughts are. I wonder how much the world is missing out on because of esteem issues? All we can do is encourage others belief in themselves and offer support, while being aware of our own tendencies to slip into negative thinking. Inspirational post Slade
Chris,
Thanks for saying so, man!
I agree. You’re onto something with the idea that esteem is a universal issue. As a minister or a marketing consultant — seems like very different professional roles, I know — but I find this to be the obvious overlap.
Fear. Scarcity.
Maybe the Ego gets more of a bad rap than he deserves.
You know as well as I do that the difference between Chris-before-taking-action and Chris-after-taking-action is a choice — incredibly simple and profoundly life-altering at the same time…
And ultimately available to anyone.
Slade, I just had a conversation by email with a friend earlier today in which I was talking about my friend Sherryl being a great healer and my teacher. This friend told me that I was just a great of a healer and that I needed to give myself credit for being who I am. Then I read Jen’s comment to the Shift Your Spirits article and now this. Also, my healing angel Manoah got in on the act and said my friend was right and that I am just as powerful a healer as my friend Sherryl and it is time for me to start doing something about it. A little scarey but oh so true. I accept that I am a great healer, in more ways than one. Thanks, Slade.
Slade,
This post, and your response above to Chris, elaborate one of my foremost concerns – authority (as in “author”-ity). I saw your distinction between before-taking-action and after-taking-action illustrated at a writer’s conference I recently attended. Some people there were published authors, others were actively writing, and some were self-described “wannabees”.
While milling around during the lunch hour, I realized there is a qualitative difference between the people who were writing and those who wanted to write. Only one thing keeps me in the latter catagory, or moves me into the former. The one determiner comes down to a choice:
Will I write, and be a writer? Or will I choose inaction and remain a “wannabee”?
I get to make that choice every day. A preponderance of choices becomes a habit. And that habit – choosing action or inaction – determines my author-ity over my work and how I spend my energy.
Thinking about it in these “incredibly simple and profoundly life-altering” terms, as you said, was the key to my author-ity. But I often need reminding, many times and in many ways, so thank you for adressing this here.
Patricia,
Indeed, that choice to become who you are/ who you want to be applies to more roles than Writer. But it was a healer | counselor | therapist who pointed out to me that I should define healing loosely enough to include writing.
Words heal. Listening heals.
Sarah,
I live that academic world vicariously through your experiences. Long, long ago, 1991, BA in Creative Writing…
I miss those writing round table events. Sometimes.
Actually, I remember being painfully aware of the categories of writers you describe, and even feeling that to some degree an MFA program might confirm my wannabe status. It’s such a trap of brilliant people, to believe they are perpetually preparing for something great… and sometimes a Program or a Community of like-minded dreamers can feel like progress.
But looking back, I see that I didn’t learn to write half so much as I wrote to learn (how to write better).
Sarah, everything about your voice on the page pulses with the big W — even just this one comment, here today, reveals this as your inherent ability. Skill.
Combined with your choice — and yes, I love it that you point out that it’s a DAILY choice to exercise — there can be no doubt that you are indeed Doing It. And doing it well.
Hello Slade,
Thanks for the reminder that my self-esteem issue is an illusion.
If I could extend this self-illusion-ability to the masses I would likely have my own TV show; forget about Davids — Blaine and Copperfield — I would rule
I appreciate it when someone brings this experienced self-illusionist back to reality. The reality is, I have something of value to share; I can act courageously; I can step up to the plate of my highest potential. And if my swing is genuine it will all come together.
Enough?
John
Slade,
This has turned into an awesome conversation. I must say that I gave myself permission to start not too long, ago, and it feels incredibly liberating. Now, creativity flows out of me so strongly that I can’t possibly take action on all of the ideas that cross my mind – a good problem to have.
Who am I?
I am myself, and that is more than enough.
Slade, writing has definitely been my number one tool for healing my incest issues and relationship issues. So far, that is what my blog writing has been about. Thanks for reminding me.
Sarah,
You’re right. It really comes down to the choice to go ahead and do what it is you’re inspired to do everyday. To walk any path, whether it be spiritual, material, or intellectual, to make anything happen it’s just a matter of consistently choosing to do it, and to go ahead and set aside some time to work on it.
I’m not sure if I’m a wannabe writer. I just know (“knooowwww”) this book needs to come out of me, this one book, and it needs to be read by others. I hope that it’ll make it to the market for public consumption, but I was informed that even if it doesn’t, it’ll still have an impact.
I can totally feel inspiration running up and down my spine right now. It feels SO cool.
Slade- You inspired me to start blogging in the last couple months because I have felt like there was a path that I needed to be walking. My writing right now is about dragging myself out of the ooze that had become my life and trying to get free. I am writing, literally, about up-lifting myself.
It has already been incredibly cathartic and it is the sharing factor that makes it that way. Instead of writing in a journal that only goes between me and the divine, my words are out there in the Universe. Kind of like a Universal Confession. Even if no one is reading it, they could be. They might be… and maybe they will be. But it’s out there and I am moving on.
[...] just a little dude here with nothing but words and ideas to share,” you think. But God, your humble stories now have the power to go [...]
John, Vitor, Kate, Patricia,
Thank you for commenting and forgive my lack of reply — my notifications dropped off mysteriously so I missed your comments when they came through.
John, your television show pitch made me chuckle — was it supposed to? I love a spoof; for every single serious idea I present, say an article on one of my blogs, I have an entire series of mockumentaries waiting in the wings.
Vitor, as you know, a sense of purpose is nothing without an outlet — it’s like a spigot turned on with a cinch in the hose. Glad to know you’re now experiencing that flow…
Jen, I personally think that identifying as a writer is often one decision — a big one, in itself — but acting as one — the follow through, the reality, the cumulative actions steps — are daily, on-going, much smaller decisions. Break your book down into bite-sizes and gnaw off another piece — as often as you can. Daily is ideal, of course. Books aren’t written in one fell swoop, you know…
Kate, the idea that I’ve provided any inspiration for you to blog is the greatest compliment I could receive. Your comment here annihilates a few thousand pieces of hate-mail and self-doubt, so thank you.
Brilliant metaphor, about the “confessions to the Universe.” I’m digging that.
Slade,
Yes, it was meant as a chuckle; a comic reference to how adept we can be at kidding ourselves. We can be brilliant at rendering the best that is in us, invisible. Well that could be a marketable skill right? But better if we just put that aside I think
I used to write freelance for magazines about merging business and personal growth. I also spent a couple decades in disciplined practice using Tai Chi, Chi Gung, and Meditation as a means to explore my existence. Then life turned on a dime for me. it often happens when folks are on a path that the trail vanishes. It’s tough to find the way out, but a step at a time helps. Thanks for marking the path.
John