Reverse Inspiration

A lot of people experience fear about following their heart. This is because the demands of the heart tend to involve risk. Most people are taught to play it safe—find the job, get the salary and health insurance, and so on. That's all well and good, but for a lot of people it means giving up on, or avoiding outright, the things that lead to real happiness. 

The mechanisms inside us that cripple our dreams are powerful. Fear, doubt, feeling overwhelmed, the list is long. But careful observation might reveal a pattern. Here's an example: “Every time I get an idea for what I'd really love to do with my life, I feel overwhelmed and I don't know where to begin. It seems impossible.” For many people, a great idea can cause what seems like the opposite of inspiration. It can create the desire to run and hide. Any initial feeling of elation or possibility is quickly overwhelmed by the shadows of doubt and inferiority. 

Amazingly, those very feelings are affirmation that the new possibility is to be taken seriously. Those of us who suffer from it will only experience that debilitating doubt in the presence of what might fulfill us. The mechanism is there specifically to cause self-defeat. It doesn't serve any other purpose. So, a person born to be a writer probably won't feel overwhelmed with doubt at the prospect of becoming a brain surgeon. That experience will be more like, “Nah, don't think I'll be a brain surgeon.” But when the idea for a book or article is proposed, that same person might experience something like a train wreck inside. All that means is that it really is a good idea, it really does come from your core, you really should follow it. Sadly, the very thing that should cause a thrill of adventurous confidence goes in reverse. There are lots of reasons for this, but they aren't really important. In the end, the important thing is going after that dream.  

Inspiration can happen in reverse. It's because we're human, and humans are messed up. Developing yourself to the point where you do feel that adventurous confidence, instead of its crippling opposite, is a separate fight. But in the mean time, knowing how to interpret those feelings for the best can go a long way to managing them and, ultimately, making them work for you.

Ever forward.

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