January 15, 2020-Over the winter break, I enjoyed some much-needed downtime. My days consisted of sleeping in late, puttering around the house, and re-watching some of my favourite movies for the four-hundredth time. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for 80’s action movies; give me Van Damme, Willis, and Stallone, and I’m happy.
So, there I am, sitting on the couch, curled up with my cat, watching Rocky 3. You know the one where he gets busted up by Hulk Hogan and then goes on to defeat Mr. T? Of course, you do, everyone does. I’m watching the scene where Rocky is talking with Adrian on the beach when all of a sudden, he says something that makes me stop in my tracks. “You wanna know the truth? This truth is I don’t want to lose what I got. In the beginning, I didn’t care what happened to me…now there’s you, now there’s the kid, I don’t want to lose what I got!”
Wow. That hit me like a ton of bricks. Know why? Because that’s what has been holding me back. For the last year, I’ve been sitting on my ass, not hustling as hard, because quite frankly, I’m a bit too comfortable with my current position and current situation. I don’t really stray from my daily routine by taking significant risks in my writing career and in my business because I don’t want to lose what I got. I’ve got bills to pay and cats to feed and things to pay for, taking a risk might put all of these things in jeopardy.
But in the beginning, I didn’t care what it took to sell my book, I didn’t care about how uncomfortable it was to wake up early and go to bed late and to stand out in the rain or heat or snow and peddle my books one at a time. I didn’t care about the risk, all I could picture was the reward. But now, I don’t want to lose what I got! AND THAT’S WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES!
As soon as we get comfortable in our lives, we get lazy, and we miss what’s waiting for us. We miss the potential to be great, we miss opportunities to take our writing lives and our businesses to the next level. Our FEAR of LOSING WHAT WE’VE GOT KEEPS US FROM GETTING WHAT WE WANT. Read that again.
Our fears should be: being in the exact same place as we are now, next year.
Our fears should be: staying stagnant in our writing and censoring ourselves.
Our fears should be: not growing as writers, artists, and people.
Our fears should be: not taking risks and not seeing what we can achieve.
Once we identify our fears, they can finally set us free from the chains of mediocrity, if we’re willing to risk our comfort and take action toward our dreams. X LLB
