#055: Overcoming Fears, Doubt and Misgivings: Take the Long View

What have you done lately that was courageous?
I hope you shouted your answer, said it loud and proud.
Okay, now answer this one.
What would you have done recently if you hadn’t been so fearful?
That’s not exactly a “loud and proud” moment. But we all do it; we let our fears, our doubts, our nerves get the better of us.

Talk to any person who is super-successful in their field and they’ll confess to having their insecurities, their own sleepless nights worried about the decisions they’ve made or not made. Most people aren’t fearless. But successful people have learned that many times fear is the only barrier between their present and their future. Success comes only when they are able to go through the fear to discover what lies beyond it.

I often talk and write about how to find the courage and the confidence to share your music. You may call it “performing,” but at Harp Mastery® we call it ”sharing your music.” Whatever you call it though, you still might feel your palms sweating and your stomach churning. Playing for someone, sharing that part of yourself where the music lives is scary for each of us.

I’ve been sharing my music for a lot of years now, and I know many of my students don’t really believe that I ever get nervous. I do of course, but I have learned to expect the nerves and I have learned that I can play through them. On this show, I want to tell you about an act of courage - a small but really scary one - that I”ve never talked about before. It turned out to be an important one, much more important than I knew at the time.

You see, ten years ago I took a blind leap of courage into the unknown; I started a blog. You may not think that took courage or that I was nervous about it, but I certainly had my doubts and misgivings. I didn’t know if what I was about to write was worth sharing. I didn't know if I would actually be able to come up with things to write about. I didn’t know if anybody would like it or would criticize it or laugh at it. I didn’t even know if anybody at all would read it. But I did it anyway, and if I hadn’t, Harp Mastery® wouldn’t exist. I didn’t have a website or an email list or a Facebook account. I didn’t even have high speed internet; I had a dial-up connection.

That was over 600 blog posts and 55 podcasts ago. In the intervening years, Harp Mastery® has reached literally thousands of harpists through my writings, webinars, courses, coaching programs, retreats and challenges. And it feels like we’re just getting started.

But this podcast isn’t about me or Harp Mastery®. It’s about you. I want to help you understand what’s really in your way, stopping you from playing the harp the way you want, sharing your music with the people you want. Most importantly I want to share the lessons I learned about fear and courage over these last ten years so you don’t have to learn them the hard way. You can take the shortcut path around your fear and find your harp courage. I’m going to give you an assignment too, so be sure to listen closely!

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Your assignment: decide on your act of courage for today and post it in the comments or email it to me at [email protected]. 
• My very first blog post.
• Related resource: Beyond Fear: Daily Acts of Harp Courage blog post
• Harpmastery.com

Get involved in the show! Send your questions for future podcast episodes to me at [email protected]