#188 – What stopped you in your tracks?

Have you ever felt super brave one day, sending proposals, posting on social media, pitching to your ideal-but-out-of-your-league client, just to dread turning your computer on the next day, afraid of what you might find?

If you have, you're not alone. You're literally not alone inside your mind: two Ghosts are tirelessly working behind the scenes to protect you from going overboard.

The first is the Ghost of Misplaced Shame. After you've put yourself out there, you suddenly feel exposed. You may even see all the typos and run-on sentences that your proposal/post/email contained. You freak out. And want to bury your head in the sand or deeper, and never come back out.

You still harbor a little bit of self-belief, though, and believe they could potentially maybe say yes – you could be invited to speak at that conference, or hired to do the workshop, or be interviewed for the podcast. And what will you do then? How will you prevent the other shoe from dropping?

Enter the Ghost of Not Following Up. They will indeed find out you're a fraud if you get the gig. What were you thinking? You say you're such a good writer, but... are you, really? So why do your readers unsubscribe, huh?

So, of course, you stick your head in the sand even deeper. You start pondering changing careers, closing your social media account, retreating to a monastery, or move to a different country.

I'm half-joking, of course. But I want you to see the absurd lengths your mind may go to just to "protect" you from judgement and rejection.

The trade-off? If you allow these Ghosts (and the others) to stop you from expressing your True Self, you'll only be half-alive. Do you want that?

What masks will you drop to show your Full True Self?

Love,

Carolina