Even Robin Hood needed a posse of Merry Men sidekicks! Don’t be so hard on yourself!

It’s weird isn’t it? I can talk to an audience of 200 or sing at a wedding. Apart from the requisite pre-nerves- I’m good to go. Its enjoyable and a great experience.

Ask me to do the same for a few friends/family -I’m a quivering jelly! I press publish on my stories in medium-great! It takes me months to show that same story to my closest friends. Why is that?

My take on it — the “audience” out there are hearing us/judging us on what we say/the message we share/the artform we share. They don’t know the whole person behind that story. Their criticism can sting but it’s all about what we do, not who we are.

Our personal posse on the other hand know our story and our hearts within. They are the sonar pings on our radar screen. We need them to be our life compass, our sounding boards. We know that they will tell us the truth, no matter what.

The down side of this is: when they critique us- it becomes more about ourselves/who we are- than about what we wrote/sang/said. Very often those we love seem to feel like our harshest critics- it’s because we’ve given them the keys to our heart and with that, the capacity to cripple us.

It’s scary and oh so lonely without our posse, but sometimes having the courage of our convictions means standing out on the ledge alone. You know what though? The view is simply spectacular!