10 Very valid reasons you doubt your creative vision

I've been thinking recently about the depth and breadth of how our subconscious mind causes us to doubt our ability to build a life we love from our creative passion.

Here's a quick run-down of the most common conditioning we as creatives struggle to ignore and some other more personal circumstances that affect everyone too.

1. The starving artist narrative
   Whether they were talking about someone else or to you, how often have you heard someone say, "all artists are poor"? This script also creates a narrative that money and artists don't go together. As a coach for creatives, I see many creatives feeling guilty about charging and accepting money for their creativity which perpetuates the narrative. 
   
   
2. You're not a white, cis-gendered, able-bodied, middle-upper class, heterosexual man
   If you're not all of these demographics, then society says, and history shows that life isn't going to be a bed of roses for you. You will have to fight for your right to equality and respect putting you in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. place behind everyone else on the starting line. 
   
   
3. Creativity is a hobby
   For generations, design, arts and crafts have been seen as a lady of leisure pastime. Does anyone else have the image of ladies-in-waiting sitting in front of the fire embroidering their tapestries burnt into their mind?
   
   
4. The arts are a nice to have but not a necessity
   Whenever a country has a recession or economic crisis, what happens? They cut funding to arts programs. Museums close and commissions cease. The arts are frequently seen from the government down as entertainment or a luxury, and not as a necessity. Which feeds a personal script that what you're creating is frivolous. 
   
   
5. When are you going to get a 'real job'?
   Apparently, you don't have a real job unless you're sweating it out in a cubical or working as a lawyer, teacher, doctor or farmer. 
   
   
6. Self-employment is brutal
   The story goes that if you run your own business, you'll never take a day off and work all the hours the day sends. Well, I'm going to hazard a guess that it's the same for everyone with ambition, regardless of whether your self employed or not. Pick your hard. It can either be hard working for someone else or it can be hard working for yourself. Only if you don't do it right from the start it doesn't need to feel hard at all. 
   
   
7. The business statistics rhetoric
   According to anyone with the internet that chose to work for others over working for themselves, 20% of all businesses fail in the first year. What's that? 80% of all companies survive their first year? Whoop Whoop! I'll take those odds and enrol in a business program and work with a coach, please. 
   
   
8. You didn't reach a goal or expectation
   At some point in your life, maybe even multiple times, you put a lot of hard work and passion into a project, and you didn't get the desired result. When this happens, it creates a sense of vulnerability, and your subconscious protection alarms are activated. Therefore anything similar in future will result in your subconscious distracting and deterring you from the cause.
   
   
9. Someone criticised your work or you
   This can look like someone saying it's too expensive, or they can make it themselves or just that they don't like something you made. Criticism, although not physical, is still a form of attack, and your subconscious mind can't differentiate between the two. Therefore it will do all it can to stop you from getting criticised again, even if that means stopping you from putting your creations and yourself out there. 
   
   
10. Never enough
    The ferocious frequency of social media overstimulates you, making it feel like everyone is doing NEW everything all the time, and you can't keep up with the Jones. It feels like that, but it's not like that in reality. Comparing yourself to others is natural because we all want to belong. But when we do that, our subconscious mind uses it as yet another protection mechanism to keep us in our comfort zone where it's safe and warm. 
    
    

This is by no means an extensive list, it took me less than two minutes to jot down these titles, but I hope it's provided insight into why you might doubt your ability to go after your creative vision.

While all points are valid, I want to reassure you that you can unpick and release each point with a mix of journaling, EFT and NLP techniques. For good.

That way you can move forward with pursuing the creative life you long for at the level you dream of with more ease, confidence and grace. 

To learn more about working with me, complete the Thrive 1:1 application form today.