There is one thing that Lady Gaga and Freddy Mercury have in common.
Besides the fact that Lady Gaga gets her name from the Queen song: Radio Ga Ga.
And it has everything to do with feelings.
The answer here is FEAR.
And to be more precise they overcame their fear and made it their energy.
Creativity is the trigger to create enormous amounts of fear. For me too. This whole process is natural, but not very good for your creativity as a whole. It undermines our creative mind at a mind-blowing level. We can feel such a bad case of fear that our creativity can dissolve like snow on a hot summers day.
I always look for inspiration and try to figure out what other people have done. Lady Gaga and Freddy Mercury have done an amazing job in making small steps in turning their fear into energy and using it to build rather than to destroy.
The fear became the fuel that drove them, gave them the power to stand tall, rise and help their creativity in many ways.
Fear is something that we do not like to discuss. We feel that we are the only ones. Fear is invisible and since we can only feel our fear it seems like we are the only ones suffering.
Honestly, I have fear. Right now when I am setting up my new business. there is fear. Fear comes in many shapes.
Fear happens to all of us and it is a part of life. We cannot take it away nor can we ignore it when it arises.
Still, we have to learn to live with and manage our fear since fear can block our creative abilities, can stop us in our tracks and hold us back when we are trying to grow, make a change or create. I want to help.
Neurology in a nutshell
First, let me explain a tiny bit of why we have fear and how it works.
Fear is what our mind serves us when we are in hard, difficult or unknown situations. Our minds always want to take the shortcut, use the least amount of energy to save us more energy for survival. This strategy makes us feel fear, so to warn us and to let us know that we need to make a decision right now.
Fight or flight?
Guess what is the most popular decision?
Flight.
We run from difficult situations.
Hide.
Rather not be in the spotlight.
Make that remark.
Or stand on that stage.
We leave our dreams behind when fear pops up.
We stop in our tracks when we feel fear taking over.
We say: “never mind” and forget we ever had that amazing idea.
We push away our most inner creative self as to not have to face fear.
this is not something we like to do or want to do, we want to break free, do it anyway and be our most creative selves. Freedom!
So what’s Lady Gaga’s secret?
First this… You may already know this or not but…Lady Gaga, the artist adoring the most extravagant dresses hats and using weirdness as her trademark, is an introvert.
When I first discovered this fact -yes I just discovered this 2 years ago- it blew me away and on the other hand, I understood immediately.
She has found a way to get past this and make herself strong. For one:
Gaga’s outfits are her creative outlet and they would not have been there if she was not feeling the fear. So are Freddie Mercuries…
The outfits are there to make them stronger. Conquer the fear.
They have chosen to fuel their creativity with the fear.
That alone is something we all can do.
And yes — You can do it, too. We all can do this.
Take the seemingly simple steps below and try them out:
Fear is not the enemy
1. focus on what you want to do.
2. feel the fear and breathe. Feel that it will not hurt you.
3. visualize what you might feel if you don’t do it. Regret? Shame? Loss?
4. start your work/dream/ climb on that stage/write that book or use your creativity in any shape you desire. Take small steps and keep going. Grow momentum and you will feel stronger every time you move.
Okay…Let me stop you here for just one second. Yes! I know… You are hearing things right now!
The first reaction to fear is creating excuses.
EXCUSES.
And if you like to read more about this, you may be interested in my forthcoming book about the 44 excuses we all have to step away from doing.
You might hear excuses right now, telling yourself:
“This cannot be done”
or
“I am not the same as Lady Gaga.”
Well, actually you are because Lady Gaga is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta and she is exactly like you. A human being trying to be brave and do her best, so was Freddy Mercury or shall I say Farrokh Bulsara.
When we are doing something out of the ordinary, fear rises its ugly head.
We all deal with it. One way or another.
We aim for these small but joyful moments: stand tall, be creative, make better decisions and be frank rock our world.
And yes even as an introvert, like myself, this all can be done…
Despite the hardship, the trauma and the fears.
Ode to you
The creative high achievers… the rebels they stood up, rose to the occasion and did what they came to do.
They took the time to figure it all out.
They waited until they were fine and then they made their move.
They did not let fear stop them.
I guess my most prominent reason for not letting fear eat its way into my dreams is the regret I would have if I did not do all of these things.
I urge you to become a creative rebel yourself.
To work on your fear, to not let it work you.
To take tiny steps and to take them very consciously.
To move forward
Towards the light
Towards your dream
.. creative rebels are everywhere.
Overcoming the fear to make, to create, to dance, to be.
The unseen heroes of today’s world.
I want to cheer them on.
If this is you?
I cheer you one.
I want to let you know that we see you.
We care.
We stand by you in your time of need.
We celebrate your wins and we mourn your losses.
Creative Rebels.
Desperately we want to become like you.
We watch you in case the courage rubs of.
We copy you in case we come up with amazing ideas.
We try to be like to to make great things happen.
Still, we find it hard.
Hard to be our creative self.
We fight the tears, the excuses, mourn the years lost when we had no courage.
We try to do the right thing, but it is just so difficult.
Fear.
It comes too close to our hearts.
It hurt when we make.
It hurts when we share.
Today, in this new world, we slowly start to realize that we hurt ourselves much more by not doing what we love to do.
By not listening to our ideas, our creative thought that whisper to us and want us to make new, brighter, and surprise.
Illuminate the world with our work.
Make the unknown seen.
Create new ideas.
Despite the fear.
x maurille
