Bodrimir, thanks for sharing your honest opinion. I tend to think exactly like you — 8 minutes is definitely pushing it when people value their time so much. I’m glad you found my writing to be worth your time.
Don’t be so hard on yourself — you are your own worst critic. Many times we are unnecessarily harsh on ourselves, especially when we don’t live up to our own expectations (and the expectations we set for ourselves can be unrealistic and rather difficult to achieve).
The first thing we need to do is to stop killing ourselves over the fact that we are not masterful writers from the start. We expect too much from ourselves sometimes, because we hold ourselves to high standards, and we refuse to allow ourselves to be fools. We have to allow ourselves to look stupid in order to get better. We have built up too much pride. We don’t want to fail, so we just avoid trying new things. We want to seem and feel competent from day 1. That’s simply not possible. We need to take risks and learn from our mistakes. We are not gods, merely humans. But as Nietzsche said, man is the rope between animal and god.
“Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman — a rope over an abyss.
A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER-GOING and a DOWN-GOING.”
Man is to be overcome. Only by taking risks and venturing into the unknown will you even have the possibility of gaining the treasures you desire.
Take a chance and don’t think about what others will think of you. With repetition, discipline, and patience, your work will incrementally become better and you will become more confident in your work. You will become so great that no one can ignore you anymore. They will acknowledge your genius and call you lucky and naturally gifted, but only you will know the truth — you were only able to become great by putting your head down, showing up every time you didn’t want to, and overcoming self-doubt.
I believe in you Bodrimir. Don’t let fear paralyze you. Instead, head directly toward the thing that scares you most and confront it face to face. I’m sure you will find that you had nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.”
― Leo F. Buscaglia
