The mantra that helps my magpie-mind with fear of rejection
Something you may not know about me is that I have launched my own face oil (or maybe you do know this!), alongside having a day job (I’m a marketing freelancer) and running this blog. It is proving to be quite the juggle, but I am loving working to fulfil a dream (to work for myself on something I am passionate about, and not being answerable to anyone else but me). The freedom and independence of setting up your own business whilst working for someone else on your own terms (because that is what freelancing gives you) is empowering.
I don’t take this lightly. It is not easy, and there are days when I struggle to think straight because there is so much going around inside my head; days I am paralysed by fear that my brand will not be a success; days when I don’t know what to do first and so I end up not doing anything well; days when the outcome is my biggest focus, and I lose precious time by not being present; and the list goes on. This must familiar territory for anyone setting up their own business.
The paralysis or inaction caused by letting feelings and thoughts take over is all-consuming, which I have found difficult to shake at times. I think this is why it took me nearly 2 years to set up the business in the first place – I was so scared of failure. There it is – my biggest hurdle in life – fear of failure, which is actually a fear of rejection parading as failure. I am constantly battling this fear, as are probably most people. But the antidote to this is action; simply to take action; do anything…. write, read, browse Pinterest for inspiration (who hasn’t gotten lost down that rabbit hole?!), go for a run, clean the kitchen, sweep the front garden, cook something… yeah, I did all of that before sitting down to write this post.
Taking action just helps take my mind off the unsettling thoughts and helps focus it elsewhere. The thoughts are still there because no one can fully control those, but the choice of whether it takes over or not is taken away by the fact that my magpie-of-a-mind has been given something shiny and new to think about and focus on. Everything else that came before is now forgotten.
My inspiration has been fired up again; I feel like I can take on the world (OK maybe just my little part of London), and fear can go take a flying leap… for now, because I know it will return… but that’s life isn’t it – you get over one hurdle and something else is there ready to try and take you down. Meh, not today 🙂