The internet has opened up endless opportunities for us to create something, and make money online. Social media offers businesses an opportunity to market their products for free and to create engagement with their brands and grow communities. So many people are now using the internet and social media to create something outside of their 9-5 jobs.
A few years ago I was browsing on social media when I came across an account of a life coach. A life coach? What is even is that? I was inspired by this person’s positivity, drive and what they did for a living. This is when it hit me and I felt this deep sense of knowing that this is exactly what I had been put on the earth to do. Growing up I was outgoing, would talk to everyone and thrived off making people laugh and bringing joy to their lives. I discovered self-help books in my twenties and found myself becoming addicted to developing and improving myself, setting goals and working towards something bigger. When I saw this life coach online, all of the dots joined up and I just knew that this was what I was meant to be doing.
So I had found my purpose, I knew this is what I was here to do…then what?
I set up a social media account on a couple of platforms, signed up to Canva and got creating posts. In the early days I didn’t show my face and instead just posted inspirational quotes to put positivity out into the world. After doing this for 6 months and not gaining any traction, I knew that I needed to be doing something different. I look at other people’s accounts for inspiration. They were showing up online, telling their stories on why they were there, posting pictures and videos of themselves. I knew this is what I also needed to do if I was to truly inspire people and reach people who I could truly help with my services.
The thought of filming myself and posting it onto my account made me feel sick with nerves. There were a lot of people who I knew who were following my account. Friends, family members, colleagues from my 9-5 job. The fear of judgement from others, what they would think was too much for me to push through and take action. So I ignored what I needed to do and carried on doing what I was already doing for a few more weeks knowing full well that it wouldn’t bring me any results.
A few weeks past. I had such a strong urge and vision that this was what I was meant to be doing, that I decided to finally take action. I ordered a tripod with a light and set a date of when I would film my first reel. The rest is history.
Fear has come up on my journey over and over again, and I know that it will continue to arise in the future as well. We feel fear whenever we push ourselves out of our comfort zone. If we want to expand and grow then we need to know how to deal with these uncomfortable feelings and push forward regardless. Here are some things that I have found useful on my journey to push through fear of posting online.
1) Acknowledge the Feeling for what it is. Fear stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real”, and that is exactly what it is. Fear is there to protect us and keep us safe. Back when we were living in tribes, if we stepped outside of what the rest of the tribe were doing, we would be shunned and rejected from the tribe. In the modern day this is still the case. We fear that if we step outside the societal norms that we will be judged and abandoned by friends and family members. When fear arises, don’t try to push it away. Sit with the feeling. Understand where it is coming from. I find writing in a journal really useful for this. That way you can understand whether it is an actual threat or whether it is something that is trying to keep you safe that you can work through.
2) Take action regardless of how you feel. The best way to combat fear is to take action and run head first into it. Think about something in the past that you did for the very first time. It was the unknown, you were probably a bit worried about how it would pan out. After doing that thing over and over again, you stopped worrying about it and it was no longer something you even thought about. One day the thing you are fearing will be second nature to you. Expand your comfort zone and take action.
3) Block people who you feel may prevent you from showing up fully as yourself. I got over the fear of judgement pretty quickly when it came to posting pictures or videos of myself. The more I did it, the less I worried about it. However, I was still not being 100% myself. I was holding back from showing up in videos as exactly who I was. I pinpointed this down to a couple of people who were a blocked for me being truly me online. To overcome this I blocked them from being able to see my content or being able to search my profile. Knowing that they couldn’t see my posts gave me free rein to say what I wanted to say without fear of judgement. However, remember that you can’t block everyone, and you do need to work on not caring what other people think.
4) Understand your why behind what you are doing. It’s easy to set goals and aim for things with a surface level goal. However when you have a deeper purpose behind why you are doing something it helps you push through fear and carry on when things get tough. Is the content you are creating impacting people in a positive way? Have this in mind when you are creating your videos and know that you are doing this for a bigger purpose than yourself. If someone judges you, it your content inspires or helps someone else, than isn’t that a great thing?
5) Know that judgement comes from a place of lack. When people judge you it’s because you are highlighting an insecurity within themselves. Also, people are too absorbed in their own lives to care about what you are posting online. So go on and put that damn picture up already!
Posting online has definitely been a journey, and one that gets easier every single time. Don’t let the fear of what other people think get in the way of you living the life that you truly want and deserve. Know the deeper reason behind why you are doing it and enjoy the process.
If you found this post useful and would be interested in working with me, I offer 1:1 coaching, available in the link below:
https://www.pursuitofpurpose.co.uk/contact/
Happy Posting! <3
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