The haters gonna hate.

I just got my first hater … well Ok not my first, I wouldn’t have got to where I am if I hadn’t ruffled a few feathers along the way. So I’ll reframe that and say officially my first hater on a paid add / social media post (and you know what – I didn’t die)

Funnily enough the post was around judgement and I’ll admit a little part of me was eh what? Do I delete it, do I reply … how do I chose to respond.
And, from a place of judgement I would have reacted. Deleted my post and gone straight into overthinking and attached shame around it. Or replied and gone into all the reasons trying to justify myself. I have no desire to do any of that … or be the person that reacts to that. (Been there, done that – got the t-shirt)

So instead I’ve chosen to lean into it, own it and speak to it, because authenticity is all about being and doing things differently. And, I want to share this here because it’s a perfect example of some of the reasons we hold ourselves back as passion-led, soul centred creatives and stops us from putting work out there … fear of being judged. That fear of being judged shuts down our beautiful heart and disconnects us from our creative self – keeping us held in doing work that feels safe, accepted.

Sharing authentic work that’s different to the norm can feel very vulnerable, especially when we are finding our rythmn and exploring our voice. If I’d have listened to the voice of others instead of my own when I started on this journey, I’d have never have produced half the images I did.

Likewise, if I’d held myself attached to shame around my work for being different, for being raw, it would have stopped the vulnerability and authentic expression that really took my work into its own – and I certainly wouldn’t have created the panel of images that ended up taking me to countries I would have never have travelled to had I not taken them (and everything thats happend beyond that).

It’s the same with the work I’m doing today … it’s different, it’s authentic and … for some it’s going to feel challenging. It’s going to turn them right off and … I’m OK with that because I KNOW, and have always known, that what I do and who I am isn’t for everyone. And I don’t want or need it or me to be.
I’ve had people smile, get up and leave a room during my talks … that’s OK. I’ve been turned down for work because my style isn’t a right fit, that’s OK too. People unsubscribe from my website everytime I bring more of me out … that’s OK. I rub some people up the wrong way and we can agree to disagree – and you know what, that’s OK. It’s all OK. Because I accept me and respect me enough to know that being me IS OK … and in doing that I accept the other person and their authenticity too.

On the flip side of that I’ve sat in a room where eyes roll and people snigger or tut when I’ve spoken. I’ve sat at a table and been publically shamed for who I am. I’ve been ignored and spoken over and brushed off as having stupid ideas and shut down before I’ve even opened my mouth in a professional enviroment and that, that is not OK – none of that is ok. Just like the comment on my post …

The beauty is – I get to choose how I grow from it, respond to it and that’s OK too. You see, my experience is my authority – and I’m OK with that too, my authenticity is my magic, it’s an expression of who I am and my experience of the world. AND, as a human being I have every right to be different, infact it’s one of the most beautiful things about being human is that we each get to have our own unique experience of the world just by being us and we get to share it with others through creativity. And every time we do that we expand their experience as equally as we expand our own when we get to expereince the world through someone elses eyes.

It’s what creativity is all about! (For me anyway ;))

So, If the fear of being judged is stopping you putting your work out there or showing up authentically then I want you to ask your Self this … what if what ever it is you are holding back from sharing was your best work? What if that piece of work regardless of what it is – is exactly what someone else needed to see, hear, feel, taste, smell ? … what if that idea, no matter how much the naysayers might be telling you it will never work … is exactly the thing you are meant to create that does work, is your lifes work? … what if you listen to the people that tell you what you are making a stand for is a load of bull … and you stopped, and yet it was exactly the thing that made a difference to someone elses life? … what if just because someone else doesn’t have the same vision as you – you didn’t even give your vision a chance because you were afraid of being judged – what then?

Please do not give your power away or shut down your creativity because you’re afraid of being ridiculed for being different and equally, do not try to take it away from others – because you know what? There’s room for us all.

Keep being more of you and bringing YOUR creations to the world … because who you are is who you were always meant to be and that in itself is the real magic of creativity xxx