Making a difference requires… vulnerability and willingness

So I wanted to write a piece that is real and true to my heart. As I have been getting back in to the writing process, any number of fears, doubts and insecurities creep up. They manifest as reasons to make more coffee, check Instagram, do another Facebook quiz…

Passion vs doubt

What is true is that I am passionate about this project and why we are here. As Mavericks, we are here to change the world. Every act against status quo and mundanity adds to the collective experience of change.

Every radical act of love lights another person up…and as we light one and another up, so we can create a world that works for all. It is in the deepest, most passionate corner of my psyche that I feel this. All the way down to the bones.

I have been doing this kind of work…working with people to go deep and reveal the truest and most beautiful part of themselves for many, many years. I am good at what I do and if my skill fails, my love of people and the ability to see the best in them when they don’t see it themselves helps to get me through.

And yet here I am, full of insecurity and full of resistance. Do I really have anything meaningful to say? Is any of this worth listening to?  Does any of this sound familiar to you?

I am finding that I even don’t want to share the pieces that I have written with the people closest to me for fear that they will tell me that it is crap.

The drive for aliveness

You would think a combination of fire, passion, creativity and experience that I have would make this a cake walk. Instead I have been resorting to writing list posts and how-to’s because they are not risky or as challenging.

But...

They don’t expose me.  They certainly don’t reveal the underbelly of me.

More to the point, they don't light me up, make me feel alive...of that I am making a difference.  Why is that?

The nature of resistance

Steven Pressfield in The War of Art (simply a must read for any Maverick) tells us that in every act of creativity, resistance rises in equal and opposite force. The bigger the resistance, the more important and huge the act of creativity. If we are to truly unleash our superpowers as Mavericks, we have to overcome the biggest “enemy” of all…and that is not someone or something outside of you. It is your own resistance.

Everything we do as Mavericks means stepping out from under the rock, putting our heads above the parapet. But, the stuff that truly moves and changes is that which is real and true for us….it is an act of vulnerability. Vulnerability is where true power and creativity lay. It is the fertile ground of transformation.

By exposing the vulnerable part of ourselves in the name of creating a world that works, we give other people permission and safety to do the same. The light is already within them, we help them to take off the cover.

If Pressfield is right, resistance always shows up. Always. That has certainly been my experience.

The antidote

There is hope.

First thing, you show up, fully and with intent. Taking that first step. Then the next. Then the next. It might feel like wading through mud, but simply focus on the next step. That is all. Just that tiny next step.

If you can’t do that yet, just be willing to take the next step. Or be willing to be willing. It all helps get you on the journey.

In other words, vulnerability and willingness.

The doubt will always be there but it doesn’t have to be bigger than you. Take the next step and show us the truly beautiful and alive part of you.  That is the beauty of vulnerability.

That is when you’re truly unleashing your superpowers.

Leave a comment below and tell us what you do to get past resistance and doubt!