N is for…Not being scared!

by Judy Klipin

Sometimes – alright, often- I stop myself from doing something/s that feels important to me because I worry about how people will respond. Will they be angry? Will they be horrified? Will they reject me? Will they point and laugh at me?

Rather than risking the possible fallout, I censor myself. I think my thoughts, maybe share them with a couple of people, but on the whole I don’t take too many risks. Or, perhaps I should say, on the whole I did not take too many risks. Because it does feel like a past-tense me that was scared to speak up.

Increasingly, I find myself not being scared of what people will think and say to or about me – it is, after all their business, not mine.

Earlier this week I posted a blog about how I was struggling with blogger’s block. (It wasn’t at all scary because I didn’t say anything remotely controversial.) Most people understood that I was writing a tongue-in-cheek description of struggling to find the right words, and they appreciated what I did eventually write. But a couple of well-meaning souls took it upon themselves to ‘help’ me by giving me advice on what I should do to get the words down.

I found it somewhat amusing and slightly frustrating. But it reminded me of a blog that I had been thinking about and playing with for some time, but had been too scared to post. Will people be angry? Will they be horrified? Will they reject me? Etc.

I took a risk and posted it anyway. It is called Please don’t coach me unless I ask you to and, because it is something I feel strongly about and now that I am braver about speaking my mind, it felt not just alright but right to do it.

I am sure you won’t be too surprised to hear that, rather than the push-back I had feared, I was overwhelmingly applauded for the post, which has been my most popular yet (by many hundreds of views).

So, this blog is not about all the other N words I had planned, it is merely about the value of being authentic and true to yourself. Of taking risks and reaping rewards.

Of not being scared anymore.

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