dear creative genius…
I need you to put down your phone, quit refreshing your inbox and silence Slack for five seconds. This is important, so listen up.
I talk to creative women in biz just like you all the time – it’s kind of my job. 😉 And one thing I hear over and over is that while they know they’re smart, their work is valuable and they applaud the women around them for being vocal – they don’t feel like they are ready to become true leaders themselves.
I can relate – I thought I had to have it all figured out before I used my voice. I worried that my insecurities carried more weight than my skills. I had the fear based voice on high volume in my head most of the day.
I think there’s some piece of us that fears the spotlight. That feels like if we step into our fullest power, everything will be magnified. We’ll be stretched further than ever before. We’ll be more exhausted. We’ll receive more criticism. And when we already feel like we’re barely hanging on, that idea is enough to stop us in our tracks.
Our hope is that by refusing to take on our role as leader, we can sneak by in the shadows. We can continue about our work, without being called to step up and show up. We can still let our little resistances and our limiting beliefs run the show. We think that if we don’t see ourselves as leaders, nobody will notice us – and that feels safe, because they’ll never need more of us than we can give.
But we’re wrong.
Every person is a leader, whether we recognize it or not – and especially when you’re running your own creative biz (because, hello, people are watching you and falling in love with your work everyday!).
Choosing to become a leader isn’t about how loud your voice is or which personality type you identify with. Instead, leadership is a call to arms that we’re all asked to answer. It’s a dedication to showing up for ourselves and our communities, to being fully present, to being intentional, and to be courageous in our public unfolding of ourselves. It’s not a directive, but a commitment to invitation – a willingness to practice a restorative process that nourishes our selves and everyone around us.