Pushing Past Doubt

How Showing Up In Spite Of Your Fear Is The Only Way To Get Better

I'm not a writer! Who am I kidding!?

There is some version of that nonsense bouncing around in my brain right now, trying to take root.

As I set out trying to make an honest attempt at writing, I can't help but have some doubt. I have to make sure that I keep moving forward, despite the voice in my head trying to tell me that I'm not good enough to do this.

I've been here before.

In the 2010's I was a freelance contributor for the largest visual content provider in the world. Major corporations would call them and I would be subcontracted to deliver photographs to their clients.

Even when I was continuing to be hired for jobs by this behemoth of a company, I still doubted myself.

I felt like an imposter.

It seemed that at any minute they would figure out that I really didn't know what I was doing and that would be the end of the road.

Luckily, I had editors (and my wife) who believed in me and pushed me to believe in myself.

The fact that I had other people relying on me to deliver, and that I had their support, meant that I had just enough confidence to show up and perform. I remember being puke-nervous for some of the events I photographed, but I delivered on all of them and slowly built my confidence through these successes.

The point I am trying to make is that I never really felt comfortable as a photographer, but I kept showing up and I kept getting better.

In order to grow we have to constantly push ourselves past the horizon of our comfort zone.

Everything that I am proud of has been achieved this way. Sure there have been times where I put myself out there and then fell flat on my face, but there have also been times when the opposite was true.

My entire photography career is an example of how I was out of my comfort zone most of the time. Despite feeling this way, it was amazingly rewarding and none of it would have been possible if I let the doubt win.

Even as I conclude this article, I'm uncertain. Maybe this isn't going to land with anyone. Maybe it will actually resonate. Who knows?

As uncomfortable as it may be, I'm still going to publish it.

I'm putting myself in the arena and as scary as that is, it is perhaps the only way to gain the opportunity to continue.

So whatever it is that you're working on, I encourage you to keep going.

Keep showing up for yourself and for your dream.