For my twentieth birthday, I was given a book entitled 101 Secrets for Your Twenties by Paul Angone. I thought it was going to be sort of on the boring side and telling me to grow up and accept my fate and get a bank account but not a dog until I get a place of my own kind of book. However, this guy didn't really preach like he was the guru of the twenties. He was very truthful and very humble over the things he has learned. I will say I have not had time to read it cover to cover. I have read enough to feel empowered to write about something he touched on in his Lesson 2.
"The possibility for greatness and embarrassment both exist in the same space. If you're not willing to be embarrassed, you're probably not willing to be great."
He goes on to write about his experience where he could have chosen to get on stage and play air guitar to win a white Les Paul guitar. He wanted to do it so badly but then his fear of embarrassment kept him from it. So he had to watch some guys get up there and not do near as well as he knew he could have. He had to watch a guy walk off with what he knew should have been his guitar. He says that in his life now he is always going to choose going for the guitar and not let fear of embarrassment get in his way.
We all have similar stories. When we start worrying more about what someone thinks of us rather than going with our creativity and talents to pursue our goals in life, we lose. We lose opportunities, winning photographs, dance awards, unique art pieces, etc. If you think about it, it is those people that risked standing out in the crowd and being unique that we tend to learn about in history. Everyone else who decided not to risk being embarrassed sort of just gets looked over and forgotten through time. Is it worth it? Should we worry about how someone with their own insecurities feels about us? Perhaps they are so afraid of stepping out that they would rather you not either. That way, no one risks being embarrassed, and yet no one succeeds.
This was a great lesson to remind me that I am a unique individual, just as everyone else that I meet. For example, I am an avid photographer. So much so that I am willing to drag my heavy Cannon camera around to both informal and formal events. If I start to feeling like "nobody else is doing this" "everyone else is using their phones" "I may be in the way" "maybe I shouldn't be doing this" then my creativity gets zapped and I lose out on some quality pics that would have lasted a lot longer than my embarrassment. My love of photography and art usually transcends these thoughts but after reading this reminder from Paul Angone, I have a renewed awareness of who I am, where I want to be, and how I want to get there.
Next time you are faced between the fear of embarrassment and reaching a new goal....I hope you go for your guitar (whatever that might be).