The power of Sharing : A Personal Experience on Overcoming the Fear of Exposure
Sometimes, all you need is some acknowledgment for your small wins to remind you why you started in the first place. Lucky for me, I wasn’t reminded just once, but every time I thought of giving up writing.
After struggling with imposter syndrome for so long, today I am determined to celebrate my presence on this platform and to highlight my smallest wins since the very beginning. I am not doing it alone, though; instead, I decided to celebrate with you.
Writing was, and still is, my go-to shelter whenever life takes a bad tournament. As a child, whenever I felt alone, my pen was the magic wand I approached to invent imaginary friends. During the COVID lockdown, my pen was my gateway to freedom. When I struggled with my chronic illness and was confined to bed for months, my pen was my best remedy. But back then, I was the writer and the reader at the same time because I always thought of sharing as exposing my vulnerabilities. And that’s the reason behind the goosebumps I get whenever I click the “publish” button now.
Medium has now switched my way of thinking and shown me a way to unveil my dreadful fears and haunting thoughts by discussing them with the world around me. Revealing my opinions and viewpoints throughout my posts has given me clarity and opened my eyes to a broader spectrum of perspectives. I hesitated a lot before starting my Medium journey as a “very beginner writer” and to be honest, I still do. But whenever this hesitance blocks my way, something comes in to get it out.
My first post was From The Womb to The Tomb, a piece I wrote when I was at my lowest. Yet, it felt incredibly fulfilling to be read by someone other than me.
The fourth article I wrote was Between The Different Age-related Life Crises, Is There Any Escape At All? . Sure, hitting the “publish” button was easier than before, yet the goosebumps got their way to me. Publishing it felt like walking down the street with no clothes on. I was 25 years old, in the middle of my quarter-life crisis, with an engineering diploma in my hand and a desire in my heart to experience everything in life other than engineering. I woke up the next morning with an email from Medium congratulating me and telling me that my article had been boosted. That boost was never about the views, but an answer to the question I kept asking myself: “Were my stories worth sharing?” But instead of believing in my skills and pushing them further, I called it “beginner’s luck”.
On my birthday, I shared Are Birthdays More About Happiness or Frustration? Or Maybe Both? explaining how I feel about celebrating my birthday — a feeling that people around me wouldn’t always understand. Dipping deep into a topic that has always triggered my anxiety and rummaging through my insecurities was not that easy. To my huge surprise, it got mentioned in the list Discovering New Gems. Then, my article Why You Need to be Appreciating 2023 Instead of Preparing for 2024 was added to the #30 — Look What Aiden Found Today list. Then I got mentioned again in Your Mystery Reading 30 list, and that was my booster to what I am writing now. That day, I said to myself “if there is at least one person enjoying what I am writing, I should honor their engagement with more.”
I am well aware that these are not that big of a deal, but I want this article to be a reminder for me and for everyone reading to share our success, as little as it can be. I am well aware that all that I am celebrating is not even worth mentioning. But to me, as a beginner writer still wondering what she’s doing in this vast world full of successful writers, with just 8 articles and 140 followers, it is a small but also a real win. A win not only to celebrate but also to lean on whenever doubt knocks at my door.
This is a celebration and gratitude post for me first, and for everyone who contributed to pushing me forward and incentivizing me whenever I wanted to pause. Because even small gestures mean a lot. This is also a call for everyone to acknowledge their baby steps and toast their little victories. Let’s celebrate having a first follower, earning a first dollar, getting a first clap, or even hitting the “publish” button for the first time.
Let’s schedule a reflecting time each day to appreciate the insignificant steps that took us where we are now. Whether on this specific writing journey or in any other field of life, before we want the world around us to recognize our work, we have to take the time to recognize it ourselves. And the greatest way to gain recognition is by sharing.
Sharing what we are proud of looks nothing like bragging; instead, it is a way of showing appreciation to ourselves and the people around us. Sharing with others means we care so much about them to the extent of exposing ourselves with no shame. The act of giving and receiving with a community invokes gratitude and solidifies the bond we established together. Because when we share our sincerest feelings and deepest thoughts, we build a strong relationship based on trust. If this relationship is built on good intentions, we’ll be happy to write for them, and they will be happier to read us. Also, one of the most important things that sharing can offer is social networking. We are social animals by nature. We cannot live life solo let alone celebrate solo.
So, whatever you can share with yourself can also be shared with the world because no one can beat you in being your biggest critic and greatest competitor. As Chris McCandless stated, “Happiness is only real when shared.”
Thank you for reading.
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