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acupressure, art, artist, EFT, emerging artists, emotional freedom technique, emotional health, fear of failure, fear of success, fears, holistic counseling, holistic personal coach, kinetic energy, subconscious mind, tapping
Hopefully you’re not like Charlie Brown and have Pantophobia, the fear of everything. And hopefully, you are willing to work on identifying what your fears are so you can release the fear from your body and mind.
“Lucy: Do you think you have Pantophobia, Charlie Brown?
Charlie: I don’t know, what is pantophobia?
Lucy: The fear of Everything.
Charlie: THAT”S IT!!”
― Charles M. Schulz
We are all familiar with the common fears: public speaking, heights, spiders, flying. But what about the fear of failure or success. I’m sure you’ve heard of them also. But as an artist do you know which one you’re afraid of, perhaps both? And also, do you know why?
The fear of failure, I believe, is easier to define and identify. Mainly, we are afraid of rejection, and since our artwork comes from our soul, the rejection feels personal. The moment an artist puts their work out there, they become vulnerable and open to criticism. It’s risky. The source of this fear is often from not being supported in the past. Maybe an art teacher from your childhood gave you a bad grade or comment on something you were proud of.
But you can’t have any rewards without taking some risks. For a fear of failure, you must do your best to realize people aren’t rejecting you. Your work just is not for them. We all have personal preferences and have rejected things throughout our lives. Every time you go to a restaurant, you only choose 1 meal because of your preferences right?
But what about the fear of success? It almost sounds counter intuitive, but it’s real. It wasn’t until I began working with a Personal Holistic Coach that I realized I had a fear of success and what the source was. As a child I watched with my young eyes and mind a neighbor, and great friend of my family, lose his business, his home, his car and his wife because he trusted someone else to take care of his finances.
This memory has been sitting around in my subconscious mind for years now. Watching someone I was close to lose so much and then having to move away has had a much bigger impact on me than I realized. Our subconscious mind holds onto past experiences and tries to protect us from being hurt again in similar situations. Through the use of EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, my holistic coach helped me uncover both the fear from my subconscious mind and, more importantly, what the source was. EFT helps to identify and release the unwanted emotions or blocks.
Before working with my coach, the types of conversations I had with myself went something like “I don’t ever want to be a full-time artist because I don’t want to have to sell my work. I don’t want to be in a position to need to sell a painting, because then I would look at my passion differently.” Because I was afraid of success, I was using this as an excuse to go after what I really wanted. Now I say “Yes, I want to be a full-time artist! Yes I want my own art business! Yes I want to quit my day job and do what I love! Yes I want to be successful!”
Do I still have fears? Of course! But am I more willing to take the risk and stop making excuses and really go after my dream? Absolutely!
Posted by jacquiegouveia | Filed under Art Blog Categories, Being an Artist