So What?

As our world becomes more and more connected, the rate of feedback we receive increases. We post a picture we think is worth sharing and twenty-four hours later, three people have liked it and one of them happens to be our mother.

We publish our latest post and we think the thought-provoking sentence we wrote and edited four times would be enough to capture the interest of at least one reader who might leave a comment. One week later, nothing.

This sort of feedback can increase the insecurities of anyone who is touching the surface of their creative spirit. We find ourselves doubting the impact of our work and question everything before we even begin to type, sing, dance or wet the tip of the paint brush. 

An idea comes crashing down from the creative heavens and we begin interrogating ourselves with questions that leave us right where we were when the idea found us. 

How am I going to find the time to make this happen? 

What if I pursue this and it doesn't work out? 

What if I pour energy, time and even money into this project and it flops? 

What if no one reads it? 

What about all of the other voices out there that are more popular than mine? The last time I tried this, I saw someone else do it and it was ten times better and it was far more interesting. 

There is nothing empowering about these types of questions. In fact, they're quite crippling. What if we let our little insecure spirits take a few minutes to name all of the reasons we might fail and then simply asked ourselves, so what?

Those of us who change our little piece of the world just by living our best lives, don't do so by playing according to the rules because the rules keep us doing what "makes sense."

You're not supposed to come home after working ten hours and write a best-selling novel. No one tells you that after your last kids graduates from high school, that you are supposed to go back to school and finish your own degree. No one is going to blame you if you don't go back to dancing because you've gotten a little older and you have other priorities that matter more to other people than the joy you get when your body and music become one.

The rules don't account for these things. And you know what, so what?