How dare you!

On loving yourself & your work

Julie Le Brun (1780–1819) Looking in a Mirror, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1787

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” ~Helen Keller

“Don’t dare to be different, dare to be yourself.” ~Laura Baker

"You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection." ~Buddha

It’s happened to all of us. At some point in our creative lives, someone has directly stated or implied that you, dear writer, need to be taken down a notch, put in your place, questioned, corrected, dismissed, or criticized. You are not as good as you think you are! And let’s be honest, more often than not that meanie is ourselves! Think of times you’ve abandoned a project, story, or poem you were at first excited about in response to an internal or external “how dare you.”

Here are a few things that trigger this kind of response (let me know if you think of others):

• You tried something new. Or you want to try something new.

• You invented something. Or you want to invent something.

• You’re too old. Or too young.

• You are in over your head. You are “not ready” for the thing you’re doing.

• You lack formal training.

• You wrote in a different style or genre than you usually do.

• You succeeded in an area that “people like you” don’t normally succeed in.

• Something you wrote received too much attention.