What's holding you down?

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!