Leeanne had me read a bit from the latest book on her nightstand at the moment. I’m so glad she did. While I haven’t been able to commit as much time as I’d like to my own writing, this passage was encouraging and inspiring, giving me something to work with when I do sit down with my story soon.
The book is Underestimated by Mary Marantz. Subtitled: The Surprisingly Simple Shift to Quit Playing Small, Name the Fear, and Move Forward Anyway. We’re talking about fear here. I’m all ears.
The section was Fear Is a Really Boring Liar. It’s always trying to pass off the same old falsehoods to us, over and over again. “It’s all been done.”
“It’s all been done better.”
“What if I don’t have what it takes?”
“What if I try and fail?”
The list goes on, but to be honest, you already know what’s on it. It’s the same ol’ boring lies we all tell ourselves. Fear is a really boring liar.
The next part was eye-opening as well. Fear attacks creatives because it’s jealous that it is not creative at all.
Fear is one of the most unoriginal forces out there…
Fear does not tap into the divine, into the infinite source. It is not tethered to muse or melody or the original force of all creation. In fact, short of being able to throw its voice, fear is not really imbued with any inherent gifts at all. So, it must spend all eternity trying to derail those of us who are.
I love this, it rings true. Not only that, it tickles something in my creativity that I think I can use. If fear is a boring liar, to create is to step into exciting, life-giving truth.