Name Your Critic

Every so often I worry what somebody else is going to think.

Usually because someone once criticized something I was doing, and that voice stuck.

A fear of being, somehow, critically exposed.

I read this James Clear thought on this feeling the other week and I can’t seem to shake it.

It’s an antidote I never saw articulated quite so clearly to my fear of critical exposure.

When people have said harsh things to me, about my creative work or me personally, I’ve far too often internalized it to mean “there must be others who think this too!”

But, almost unilaterally, the most cruel of the critics aren’t people I respect or care about.

Dismissing the need to care is the beginning of dismissing the criticism due to a lack of credentials.

The people who say, “This feels pointless and risky” had always revealed themselves to me to be “pointless and conservative” so - why be surprised, let alone scared?

And now, the real trick is, remembering you don’t have to stack those fears up.

Even if your subconscious will do it for you.

I really love how Clear frames it.

If you just take a moment to say the fear of what someone will think out loud, and consider who exactly would think that fear - you’ll probably find a very specific truth.

That even if you can imagine that one person, you don’t really care.

Back to making.