Writers’ Risk And Potential Loss — WNP 098
*NOTE: This episode originally appeared on www.sarahwerner.com on October 28, 2020.
When we’re creating something for the first time, we tend to enter into this unknown world, where it’s easy to accept our permission to suck, to be terrible, and even to fail.
But what happens when you create something so great that it’s successful, everyone loves it… and now there is this expectation for your next work?
This crossroads is where we need to address our fear and our perception of risks and remind ourselves to create for ourselves.
Help support my podcast on Patreon! >>
Fear
We all face it at some point, either in our day to day lives or our creative journeys. And those fears come up so easily. Coming off of lasts week’s episode, we understand that we have permission to suck — however, do we retain that permission after a success? Don’t we have more to lose, and isn’t there more at risk? What if we are dismissed as “meh” or as a failure”, and then forgotten forever? Other fears come in the form of disappointing our audience, almost seeming as they will take our breath away if we do not create something better than the last.
Perception of Risks
Along with our fears, we carry perceptions of our risks. We perceive that everyone will dislike us, disown us, even hate us if we do not create better work this time than last. But is that ultimately true, or do we add a little extra risk to that in our minds? What is the worst thing that could actually, feasibly happen — and is it something that we could survive? Are we adding more power to our risks, adding Miracle-Gro to our fears, and in general creating this creative monster to attack our true potential, our true growth, our true success?
No Guarantees
There are no guarantees that anything we do will be a success. However, does that mean we just walk away because there is not a guarantee? Absolutely not. This is where we take the chance and accept that there is no guarantee that we can succeed. Because we must realize that there is no guarantee that we will fail, either. There is no guarantee in either direction. Even if it isn’t quite what you had in mind, you still showed up. You were still resilient. You still added growth in your creativity, in your dreams, in your world.
Create for Yourself
Will you base your outcome on uncertainty, or fate, or faith in something or someone that you never have faced. Even if it is something that you have faced, nothing has a guarantee. Things change, stories shift, and life twists and turns. Create for yourself, not for success, not for others, not for failure, but only for your achievement of pure joy and love. Create for your journey, not for anything or anyone else.
Whatever the result, remember that you alone are in control of whether or not your creations come to life. You are not in control of anything else. Do not focus, fear, or guarantee something that you cannot control what you create and can control. Be a risk-taker. Shift that mindset to focus on the potential of gaining, not losing.
Tell me your thoughts.
Let me know: what helps you to take the risks that you need to take to create? What keeps you showing up? What keeps you resilient, or are you in a place where fear is holding you back? I would love to know more about your journey as a writer.
Originally published at www.sarahwerner.com on October 28, 2020.
