Recently, I saw a picture of a kid with a boot against his head,
holding him down on the ground. It
read: “I finally found the motherfucker
holding me down.” There was another
picture accompanying it, this time a zoomed-out version showing the kid’s arm
in the boot, holding himself down. Pretty
powerful, don’t you think?
Someone posted this in a chat group I’m in and
I thought it was great. It truly speaks to how we hold ourselves down or
back from being successful. There’s an inner being (or thing) telling us we can’t do something
for silly reasons or we aren’t good enough to be what we want to be. Why
do we allow that inner being/thing drive
what we may or may not do with our lives? I honestly don’t have the
answer because that same inner being/thing
still tells me to this day I can’t do things. Most of the time I’m able
to squash it or ignore it and for the other times, I have a squad that has my
back and tells me I can do it. They are much louder and more real, so
it’s easier to listen to them!
Here’s the thing, though…and this really kind of pisses me off
when I look back on it. I almost didn’t
become a writer because I let that being/thing
inside tell me to be scared about having to get a business license or deal with
taxes. Wait, what?!? That’s asinine! Those are such small
items to be afraid of dealing with in the grand scheme of things. You’re probably thinking, “Gee, why are you
scared of small things like that? Why
aren’t you afraid of people not liking your work or being rejected?” Well, that happened, too, just so you know,
but that wasn’t the first thing that almost kept me from writing. Funny thing is, I think it was easier to deal
with the idea that I would get rejected because I had another door I could open,
and I did—self publishing. More on that
piece in a moment.
I also let that being/thing
tell me for the better part of last year that I couldn’t do this or that with my
Younique business because I’m not comfortable or it’s not in my wheelhouse.
Well, damn! Who or what is that inner being/thing to tell me I can’t do it? And why did I let it keep me
from doing the things I need to do to be successful? I'm the one in control of my own destiny, surely!
So here we are … I am able to block out or talk my way through
not listening to that stupid thing inside of me, for the most part. The best part about all of this is once I did
that, I completed the things that made me scared or uncomfortable. Now that I have seen I can do that and I won’t
die a fiery, ugly death for doing it, I know I can accomplish the other things. For starters, I have gotten used to crickets or
hearing “no” through doing the uncomfortable things in my Younique Business and
now I’m ready to re-open the door with traditional publishing for my next book. It’s all pretty damn exciting to take my arm
out of that boot holding me down!
