There is no better feeling that being immersed in something you love to do. Something you are truly passionate about.
We love how it feels. We love who we are when we do it. We love it because it enables us to connect with that authentic, truthful space that sits deep within us.
Time stands still. We feel present. The process is effortless. Something seems to move through us and flow out of us. It can be with anything that we love to do, but for me I experience it when I write.
Writing has always been something that I loved to do. When I started my original blog, it was purely because I felt I had so much inside of me that I wanted to share. I loved the process of sitting down, placing my fingers on the keyboard and allowing the feeling inside of me to flow out on to the page.
Has Fear Hijacked Your Passion?
Over the past few years, there have been times where the experience of writing has become less about the sheer enjoyment of it, and more about the creation of an end product.
It became less about me, and more about who was reading it.
I have noticed this at times across all aspects of my business too. My business became less about just doing what I loved and more about attaining outcomes.
When fear hijacks your passion, something that you once loved gets taken over by a fear-driven agenda.
For me, writing on a blog that no one reads, versus writing on a blog with a loyal reader base of thousands of people has felt incredibly different. Writing on a blog as a hobby verses writing on a blog for your business have again, felt different.
Things that were created initially from a space of love can easily turn to be driven by fear, without you even realising it.
How Fear Plays Out
When I say the word fear, don’t get confused. You may not actually feel sensations of being scared or afraid. It is more subtle than that.
Fear plays out in a range of sneaky ways including the need to control, attachments to outcomes, worry about how things will be received, anxiety, and the need to attain something from the outside world in order to feel good enough.
All of these feeling have fear-driven agenda’s behind them.
For Example:
We write on our blog because we fear that if we don’t we will lose our reader base
We market our biz, because we worry that if we don’t we will not get new clients
We share our work on social media, but then become anxious about how it will be received
We push, force and try to make things happen in order to feel successful and good enough in ourselves
We create new programs because we feel we need more money in order to feel secure.
What Space Are You Coming From?
The truth is I love to write, I love to share the message of my business through marketing and promotion and I love to create new programs. I simply adore this. And when I do this from a place of love, everything just seems to work.
It is not necessarily about what you are doing but, where you are coming from when you do it.
You can either be coming from a space of love, or from space of fear
The way that fear creeps in can happen in such a sneaky way, especially when you still love what you do. It is easy to justify that it is still all about the love of it. But you can tell by how you feel whether or not fear has crept in.
When I write, create, market or promote from a place of love I feel light, present, relaxed. I am almost ‘not thinking’ and the whole process is effortless. I love the process of sharing my message through all of these avenues. And when I do, I just write with one stream of consciousness. I don’t read what I write as I go. I stay in the flow and allow it to all come out in one big lump.
When I write, create, market or promote from a place of fear I feel tense, caught up in my head, and I can hear myself thinking about the outcome or about how what I am creating will be received. I question myself. I over analyse. I write things, delete them, rewrite them, edit them etc.
Return To Love
I took a break from writing and creating which I spoke a bit about here and here. Because I didn’t want to write unless I was loving to write. Everytime I would try to write, it would feel forced and I was writing because I felt I had to.
As I have given myself some space, the desire to write is re-emerging. I feel inspired. I feel that I can simply sit, get present and it will flow. And this is how I want to create everything from now on.
What I create in my business is all about doing what I love to do, rather than striving for an outcome. As soon as I feel I am no longer loving it, and instead I am doing something out of fear I will stop.
I was able to reconnect with my passion by making room for what I love. I am letting go of so many of the things I feel I need to do and I am creating space. When we do this, we create space for the feeling of love and inspiration to once again bubble up within us.
Can you relate to this feeling of having your passion taken over by a fear-driven agenda? I would love for you to share your experiences with me in the comments below.
With love,
Connie x
Connie, this post comes at the perfect time. I am TOTALLY feeling this… I get so wrapped up in the outcome and not in the process. But you’re right — when you come from that place where it’s fun, where it’s flowing — that’s where the love is. It’s definitely something to always keep in mind and try to strive for. And I also get the whole “sneaky” fear, too. Oh, my fear is SUPER sneaky!!! 🙂
–Erika
http://www.chimerikal.com
Hi Erika, it is beautiful that this post really resonated with you, as I know you are a writer like me. I love the 2 words you used – “fun” and “flowing”.. they are a perfect way for you to really feel if you are in the space of love or not xx
Hi Connie
Particularly love your comment: What I create in my business is all about doing what I love to do, rather than striving for an outcome. Classic head versus heart.
Taking a step back helps you gain clarity and perspective, which is what people are hoping to gain from you anyway! Win, win.
Take care
Helen xx
Yes it is classic heart v head isn’t it? I have really felt that stepping back has been so valuable in really deciphering between the two. It has helped me really ‘feel’ what is true, rather than thinking about it and analysing it. Thank you for your beautiful comment xx
Great post Connie! You are so right, you can totally feel the difference and I didn’t even realize it. I will definitely be bringing in more awareness when I am writing. Thanks so much for sharing xx
Thanks Carla. Yes, the difference can be really subtle initially but the more aware you become, the easier it will be to decipher the two xx
Great words honey! I have found that if I love and hug fear like my ally it doesn’t get in the way of my passion… in fact it provides an extra buzz to grow and expand. My blog this week is a letter from fear. http://www.silentnature.com.au/1/post/2013/05/fear-is-your-over-worked-superpower-not-your-enemy.html
Beautiful Courtney, love definitely heals all fear and I adore your concept of giving it a hug. It is like opening up our loving embrace to our fear and becoming one with it. Gorgeous xx
I too have taken a step back from my blog, as I realised I was becoming consumed by worrying about statistics and expectations from others. I want my words to be meaningful with getting my message across, not just a rambling diary brought on by the pressure to submit daily posts.
I know that feeling Melissa – constantly checking stats or facebook likes or comments can really take away the loving energy from writing and sharing powerful content. It is beautiful that you are taking the pressure off yourself and allowing yourself some space xx
The fact that you are just doing your own thang, regardless of the so called ‘rules’ of blogging and business and needing to be seen….I not only love it but it’s a pertinent reminder that I needed to hear today, for myself. Thanks Connie x
Thank you Kirri, it can be a really challenging practice as your head constantly tells you that you are doing the wrong things and that you will ‘fall behind’.. but I am learning to make my feeling my number one priority and to listen to that even if my head tells me I am crazy. Thank you for your beautiful comment xx
Beautiful Connie, you know that I’m 100000% on board with what you said. I started my blog for the same reason and have felt th same fears around creating for an outcome.
So lovely to be reminded of this and I’m grateful you share your insights and journey with us.
Cx
Oh Claire, we are in such a similar space at the moment and I know how deeply what I have said here resonates with you. You are such a beautiful writer with SO much beauty and love to share with the world, and I know like me you are committed to this practice of really writing from the space of love. I cant wait for your ebook to launch – I really ‘felt’ everything you wrote in there xx
I can TOTALLY relate to this! I have been feeling resistance, and thus avoiding for fear of needing to be “perfect”, around writing on my blog. I recently chose the word LOVE as my word for 2014 (and probably forever). Like you said, coming from a place of love (and want to love up my readers) is calm and inspiring. Thanks for your post – it’s good to know others feel this way!