Feeling Naked: Taking Chances Even When You Feel Vulnerable

I registered goalshappenhere.com on 22 July 2012. I mulled over the site specifics for a few days and then launched into designing the site.

I was totally consumed getting the site up and running.

Suddenly, it occurred to me, about two weeks later: What if no one comes? What if I’ve thrown a big party and the doorbell never rings? Yikes.

I put myself out there with Another Big Idea, and somehow yet again I didn’t consider ahead of time what I would do if no one comes.

I expected to have that silly dream about showing up at school in my pajamas. Vulnerability is not a comfortable feeling, yet how do you succeed without putting yourself out there, ideas exposed, raw and naked for the world to see?

For the world to accept or reject.

And then it occurred to me: Thank goodness I didn’t think of all of this on July 22nd.

What if I had considered the possibility of not succeeding? Of putting something out there and being rejected? Hell, being rejected by an individual guy is bad enough, but by the entire internet?

Yikes.

I very likely would have talked myself out of doing this. I knew practically nothing about designing websites, let alone how to attract an audience once I have a website. And there are already so many websites out there. Who needs another one? Who am I to think I could do something like this? Who am I to think I can succeed at something like this?

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And just like that my inner voice would have squashed my idea rather than propelling me to create something and put it out there.

Thank you, inner voice, for sending me blindly into the unknown. As painful as that can be, it beats the alternative.

I’m still nervous about what comes next — I’m still growing and learning — but I’m grateful I’ve made it this far.

What has your inner voice squashed? What ideas do you have that you’re talking yourself out of right now?