Does this sound familiar? You’re sitting at your desk writing your screenplay or you’re working on sides for an audition or you realize you’ve been staring at your to-do list for 10 minutes in complete overwhelm and haven’t done a single thing.
Yeah, we’ve all been in one of those situations or something like it.
Here’s the kicker. Then, the inevitable happens. That initial motivation to begin any one of those projects is hijacked by doubt. Our brains latch on to that stupid doubt as truth. And then we’re down a spiral. “ I’m not enough.” “I’m a terrible (insert profession here).” “I can’t do this.”
Doubt! The killer of dreams. The tormentor of our minds. The lies we believe. Here’s the thing, everybody experiences doubt at one point or another. When we’re having the little pity party in our brain, doubting who we are and what we know we’re good at, we think NO ONE else feels this way.
Maybe you can relate to this 🙂 The last time I got headshots done I felt really good about the shoot. I love my photographer (shout out to David Muller) and my makeup artist (shout out to Kate Hollinshead). I left feeling amazing! Then later that night, I got a link with 619 photos of my face to look through. Oof.
Here’s a little insight on to how my headshot selection process goes –
1. YES! My headshots are amazing!
2. Ok, these are really good.
3. Oh my god, I hate my freakin’ face and I look old.
4. These are terrible. I’m terrible.
Seriously, that is what happens.
I’d been emailing back and forth with my manager about the photos and I shared with her my headshot process above. At that point, I was deep in #4. Deep.
Here’s what my manager emailed back –
1. You are stunning
2. You slayed this shoot!!!!!
3. I agree with 1 and 2.
4. I cannot believe how gorgeous you look and how striking these are. I don’t know how we will narrow them down!
I, literally, started laughing and crying. And then my doubt was gone.
Why? Because as creatives we can feel alone. A lot. When I talk to my artistic friends, colleagues and clients about their biggest frustration, it’s that they feel innately alone.
When doubt creeps in and we feel alone, it spirals. When doubt creeps in and we feel part of something bigger and supported, it doesn’t.
So…. what do you do in moments of doubt?
1. Reach out to a close friend or someone you trust and talk about it! By simply giving voice to your doubt and having awareness, it will lessen.
2. Get out of your head! Put on some music and have a solo dance party! If doubt hijacks your brain, you get to hijack your body into joy!
3. Write out every negative thought in your head. Get it out of there! Put it in on paper. Then write down three pieces of evidence in your life that prove that doubt wrong.
4. Reconnect with your why. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Tapping into your passion will pull you out of the negative space. This could be a visualization, a guided meditation or journaling.
Please remember that doubt will happen AND please remember it’s fleeting. You have the choice to hold onto it or let it go.
Something tells me you’re a powerhouse who has some badass goals to accomplish. You don’t have time for that doubt!
