#199 – Is the Ghost of Undervaluing making you stingy?

Years ago, when I was unsure about starting to write a book, my coach asked me, "If you knew you were sitting on an important piece of information, would you share it?"

Of course I would – but how could anything I wrote be so important? It was just me.

Nevertheless, ignoring the Ghost of Undervaluing (GoU) who flashed a condescending smile and tilted its head every time I opened the writing app, I finished my SFD (sh*tty first draft). I even had a go at revision, red marker on printed pages and all.

Then, one day, when I told a group of clients about my writing project, one of them said it made her think of Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance, which I still hadn't read.

The GoU took over my entire mind, towering like out of an Orson Welles movie, and burst out laughing: who did you think you were? Important ideas – you?

Not only did I not finish the book. I started to feel ashamed at what I'd written: how could I ever think putting this trash into the world would be a generous act?

I abandoned the manuscript and let it wilt in the proverbial drawer.

But what if my thinking was indeed an important piece of information? What if it could change something – someone's life?

Isn't it more generous to try and fail than to not even try?

What will you share when you stop listening to your Ghost of Undervaluing?

Love,

Carolina