News & Blog
YOUR FEAR IS BORING. I can say this with all honesty and authority, because I k…
YOUR FEAR IS BORING.
I can say this with all honesty and authority, because I know for a fact that my fear is the most boring thing about me. This is especially true when it comes to living a life of creativity.
Fear is boring, because fear only ever has one thing to say to us, and that thing is: "STOP!"
For over 25 years now, my fear has been shouting "STOP!" to me, every single time I sit down to write. Fear never has a more interesting insight to offer. Never. Just that one word, repeated and repeated with increasing hysteria: "STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!!!!!"
My fear wants me to stop, because my fear wants me to be safe, and my fear perceives all motion, all inspiration, all work, all activity, all passion whatsoever as potentially life-threatening. My fear wants me to live a smaller life. The smallest imaginable life, ideally. My fear would prefer that I never got out of bed.
Your fear is the same. Exactly the same as mine. I guarantee it.
Listen, we all need fear, evolutionary-speaking — obviously. Don't leave home without a good healthy fear reflex, or you may find yourself wandering drunk through dangerous neighborhoods at 3am, or riding your bike through city traffic with earbuds in. (You guys, seriously – what's with people riding their bikes through city traffic with earbuds in?) In these situations, your fear may indeed save your life.
But your fear must be kept in its place. (True emergencies only, please.) Your fear must not be allowed to make decisions about creativity, passion, inspiration, dreams. Your fear doesn't understand these things, and so it makes the most boring possible decisions about them. Your fear mistakes creativity and inspiration for saber-toothed tigers and wolf packs. They aren't. Creativity and inspiration are the vehicles that will transport you to the person you most need to become.
Sit down and have a quiet conversation with your fear. Tell it that you will listen respectfully, say, when your fear warns you not to go swimming in 15-foot waves when you aren't a strong swimmer. But you will not listen to your fear anymore when a small hopeful voice inside you says, "I want to make something."
Now go make something, OK?
Meanwhile, here's a video of me talking more about this:
And don't forget to watch me and Oprah on Super Soul Sunday, tomorrow on OWN-TV, 11am! (Or LIVESTREAMED on Oprah.com)
Onward (and OWN-ward!)
LG
“PERFECTIONISM IS JUST FEAR IN REALLY GOOD SHOES” Dear Ones – Enjoy this littl…
"PERFECTIONISM IS JUST FEAR IN REALLY GOOD SHOES"
Dear Ones –
Enjoy this little clip (about fear and perfectionism) from my upcoming #SuperSoulSunday appearance with Oprah!
And don't forget tune in this Sunday at 11am EST on OWN-TV for the full interview!
(For those of you who don't live in America, or who do not have cable, you can watch the interview LIVESTREAM on Sunday, right here: https://ift.tt/1jUFnzR<https://ift.tt/1xFlnJr also here: https://ift.tt/18mhN9o)
ONWARD,
LG
The One Thing That Elizabeth Gilbert Says Is At The Root Of Every Problem
https://ift.tt/hFWySe
As the author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert embarked on a spiritual and literal journey across Italy, India and Indonesia, in hopes of overcoming her personal struggles and rediscovering her true self. Today, eight years after writing this be…
Where Does Creativity Come From?
via NPR
Writer Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses. She shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. She explores creativity further in her 2014 TED talk.
By far, the most efficient way to be rescued… 🙂 ONWARD, LG
FRIDAY HOUSEKEEPING! Dear Ones – We get a lot of new people joining this Faceb…
FRIDAY HOUSEKEEPING!
Dear Ones –
We get a lot of new people joining this Facebook page every day (thank you for joining our little community, new folks!) so once a week, I try to give everyone all the information they might want, about other places on the Internet to find me.
So let’s run down the list:
My website is https://ift.tt/sUqSyM. There, you can find information on all my upcoming events, see videos, read my thoughts on the writing process, and download book club guides to my books!
I have an email newsletter (where I always reveal my big news first, and sometimes run contests, when I remember to.) You can join the newsletter by clicking the icon on the left of this page called "LizNews" and signing up. (You can also sign up for LizNews on the homepage of my website.)
You can follow me on Twitter, where I basically just goof off, at: @GilbertLiz
You can follow me on Instagram (which I just joined because some 14-year-olds told me to) at: Elizabeth_Gilbert_Writer
You can follow me on Pinterest (that addictive crack house, whose vortex I try not to tumble down too often because it’s a gorgeous suckhole) at: lizgilbertpins
And if you EVER want to buy to buy signed copies of ANY of my books, you can buy them online through the shop, Two Buttons, that I run in New Jersey with my husband (otherwise known as “that Brazilian guy”.) The link is right here: https://ift.tt/1pfR7PX
That is all, my dears!
(And yes, in all these various social media forums, it is actually ME doing the posting, the chatting, the responding, the pinning, the time-wasting. I like it. It’s fun. I like hanging out with you guys. I’m glad you like hanging out with me. Also, I have no children and my husband cooks, so I have plenty of extra time on my hands…)
ONWARD,
LG