Last Updated on October 8, 2020 by Kari
Doing a Skillshare class every day is working out for me so far, and today I found a class that I didn’t even know I needed. It’s about creative confidence and how we self-sabotage ourselves along the way. It’s a class by Emma Gannon, who is an author, speaker, podcast host, and broadcaster. I found myself nodding my head as she talked about the ways people sabotage themselves and, I got to admit, I felt excited that other people were experiencing the same things I am experiencing. Sometimes it feels like you are all alone in your struggles.
How Do I Sabotage Myself The Most?
I think it took me a long time to create a personal website because I didn’t want to put my shit out there, so to speak. Even though I was fine creating sites that weren’t directly linked to my name, I didn’t have the creative confidence to put myself out there as myself.
I didn’t want people to see my personal thoughts or experiences. I thought that either nobody would care or people would judge me.
I also worry about putting out my real name and having disgusting ex-boyfriends find me or other people who I don’t really want to reconnect with.
So I think on this site, I don’t put out too much personal stuff. I write reviews around courses I take and include some personal things in there, and I talk about my life on a somewhat personal level, but I don’t talk about opinions or beliefs too much because it just feels like I shouldn’t.
Even today I wrote a whole article about something that is very personal to me, didn’t publish it, went down for lunch, and came back up and trashed it because it just felt silly to me. It seemed stupid to share a fear around something and connect it to a review of a show I just watched. It seemed like a good idea when I started, but after some reflection, it felt stupid.
Often times, when I’m writing about something personal, I feel like it might be a good thing for me to hit publish while I’m in that state of flow. But once I get out of the flow, and reflect on things and mull issues over, I’m more likely to lose my creative confidence and trash my writing, which means I wasted my time and energy.
The Class Boosted My Enthusiasm As Well As My Creative Confidence
This Skillshare class by Emma Dannon actually boosted my enthusiasm, along with yesterday’s class on sticking with your creative work. I need to stop overthinking it or trying to make it perfect or putting it off… I just need to do what I set out to do and see what happens.
One of the things Emma talks about is identifying your patterns – where you self-sabotage yourself the most. I think when I get overwhelmed is when I do the most damage.
I’ve noticed that when I get overwhelmed:
- I give up.
- I stop trying.
- I procrastinate… big time. Usually, I click on YouTube and turn on a video that is mind-numbing but interesting to me.
I’ve realized that having too many choices and thinking too much about stuff puts me in a state of being overwhelmed where I have no creative confidence and don’t want to do anything at all.
I need to either have a plan or just do it without worrying about every little detail (perfectionism) and what other people will think (inner critic).
Emma’s Class Helps You Look At And Work Through Five Common Self-Sabotage Issues
If you are a creative person trying to put your stuff out there in any way, then you are going to relate to what she talks about in this class on creative confidence. I can almost guarantee that you will have the kinds of self-sabotage issues she discusses, so it will be beneficial to you.
Everything she says makes sense. Whether you need to know these things or just be reminded of them, her class can help you remember that we tend to be our worst critic and enemy when it comes to putting ourselves out there and doing what needs to be done.
Besides talking about personal examples with each issue, she includes exercises to help you get through those issues and move forward with creative confidence.
In other words, if you need some creative confidence right now, this is a class that can help. You can also check out Emma Gannon here on her website.
