Who Do You Think You Are?!

Christmas is almost here!

Hopefully this is a season where you are taking the time out to count your blessings. One of mine is the journey I’m embarking on with blogging. As many years as I’ve been writing, I’ve never shared my thoughts publicly. I would either have them hidden in my Google Drive or posted as “private”. That’s a small thing compared to the many other things that I can list. My family, work, home, my pets, including a new furry I just adopted! It's true that there is always something to be grateful. Sometimes, some of us have to dig deeper than others.

But during a season where people are notoriously occupied with spending money and/or battling anxiety and depression, I find that digging deep is worth it! It can help lift your spirits when you are trending downhill. This blog post may be short and sweet this holiday weekend, but I needed to do it in order to break out of the rut I settled into.

There is something we often chat about at my job. Sometimes when we take a moment to sit down and list the probabilities, it can become daunting. So much so, that you become stuck and don’t move forward. I deal with that sometimes when I’m writing. Not just blog posts or story drafts either! I can't tell you how long it takes me to send emails at work because I agonize over clarity and whether or not there are typos. Regardless, I always spot an imperfection after I hit send!

Here is my thought bubble when my Imposter Syndrome is activated:

Does this make sense? Should I quote a scripture? Is it clear? Did I use a bunch of run on sentences? Am I using this word in the right context? Am I using too many qualifiers? What if someone disagrees? Why should I send this? I mean, who am I? I'm no expert! Does it matter, nobody’s reading it anyway! Wait, check for typos! Check for typos again! Again!

And trust me, the list goes on and on. But sometimes you have to take a leap. I think of the many work emails I’ve sent where I felt like a huge weight had been lifted in the aftermath of pressing send. We sometimes agonize over the silliest things don’t we?

I know that for me, part of the struggle is in being such a harsh judge on myself. Because, you know, imposter syndrome. If I were to bare myself today, then I’d share what a struggle it was for me to even put together this brief snippet of a post. So, speaking from personal experience, we at times set a higher standard for ourselves than we do for others. I did not want to post anything that wasn’t helpful to someone else. Because of that, I allowed it to delay me from posting anything at all.

That’s what happens when we allow our struggles and the battles we face to be the loudest voice. So as we prepare to head into yet another new year, let’s not allow the negativity to have free reign in our lives. Instead, let’s make a conscious effort to do something different!

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Even in Winter Stay Sunny!