Failure. One of the most feared subjects of my clients. The sheer thought of failure will put someone into a frozen state from which there is no creation possible.
But isn’t failure just programmed if you decide to use your creative abilities and actually create something that has never been, a ground-breaking thought, an winning idea, a new venture?
You are moving outside of the boundaries of life as you know it. You enter territories that were not yet available to you. You don’t know the way around there. Yet.
Wouldn’t you accept the fact that you can get lost in a new city? Would you beat up yourself for not finding the restaurant you want to visit in a new town? Or would you just get prepared and take a map or use your GPS system?
Why is that so much more difficult to accept the challenges of getting lost and the possibility of failure as you enter your creative zone? Is it because creativity is still viewed as some wonderful gift you need to be born with or as the privilege for artists? Is it because we really have limited light posts on the way to our creative flow? Is it our beliefs about our creative potential? What matters is that at the beginning of a creative venture, we have this fear of failure that we need to face.
Wow; this post just hit me between the eyes; I used to be so afraid of risk that I just stayed stuck in this image of myself that was just so much less than what I could be…I think my fear what that if I wasn’t “needy,” noone would be there for me. I think this is something that affects a lot of people who have chronic illnesses of various times. Well, witin the last year, I had an oppotunity to make a BIG leap in my career into an executive (actually “middle”) management position but due to various circumstances it has been the most challenging, demanding, yet joyous professional experience of my life. It has confirmed what my master’s level professor told me back in 1985 (but didn’t believe). It confirmed for me that I had strengths deep down I didn’t think I had, though I had moments (and still do) of profound doubt. I’ve shed my share of tears and even tonight I’m not exactly sure of the road ahead–but I know for sure what a colleague told me on one of the darkest days I had so many months ago before any of this happened, “YOU ARE ENOUGH.” And today that is my mantra. I think of sea glass, tossed and tumbled by the wild energy of the sea, absorbing all of its crazy to and fro wisdom, drawn from the wisdom of tides and moons and the turning earth….ahhhh I rhapsodize what has truly been a tough learning journey which even today continues. I happened upon this coaching site tonight because I think coaching could be in my future, but I am in need of coaching now; of the family/parenting type now, but I don’t know what coaches generally charge. I am in a temporary financial tight spot right now; but for now i THINK I’ll try to find a blog or a group to join. I am interested in the idea of supervision as a form of coaching, since I work in a peer environment. Anythoughts. I would welcome responses.
By: jo bower on March 15, 2010
at 4:26 am
Jo,
thank you for your beautiful and thought-provoking comment. I really loved your “sea glass” analogy. I will contact you shortly through email.
Judit
By: creativitysage on March 16, 2010
at 3:26 pm