Sharing my writing in public

It was funny - yesterday my boss told me that she found my YouTube channel and my blog online. I was caught off guard and was embarrassed. However, not nearly as embarrassed as I thought I was going to be. It made me kind of glad that someone from work had seen it, since it was like a realisation that those things I made were real. 

I am still a little worried that I may have written something that could cause issues for me in the future, though I don’t think that I have. But still, I am not totally stress free about the situation. I am overall quite happy about it, and this may be an opportunity for me to start sharing my blogs more widely, to see who starts picking up on it. 

What am I afraid of when it comes to sharing my blogs? I think some part of it is that I will share some intimate details of my life that will later embarrass me or cause an awkward scenario at work. To follow this line of thought, I suppose I worry that this feeling will cause me to censor my own writing to some degree, thoughts of: “what if this person reads it” may prevent me from writing the full truth. 

Is holding back the truth to some small degree really a big issue though? I think my first draft of any given newsletter will be the truest form, and then I can critically edit my work afterwards, passing everything through my more conscious lens.

I suppose all artists and writers must be assailed with self-doubt and worry about what people will think of their work. I think it may be that repetition is the only way to stomp out this doubt. Once I have shared one article, the next will be easier. And once I have shared 20 articles, it will feel as if I had been doing it a very long time. 

Perhaps that should be my goal: sharing articles when I write them. I can share them on LinkedIn. I want to get over my fear of sharing my writing, especially since it may mean people actually see my writing, and start to read it. That would be really cool!

I might even get feedback on my writing, which will help me improve and reach a wider audience. 

I think that settles it. I am going to start sharing my writing in a more public fashion. My next blog post will be shared on LinkedIn: the first time I have ever shared my website and blog with anyone other than one or two close friends. The worst thing that could happen is that someone finds it and makes an awkward joke about what I wrote, which I will need to get used to anyway! 

I can feel the dread in my stomach at the thought of clicking the share button on my own writing, but perhaps that is a sign that I should do it. Fear can often be an indication of something that you SHOULD be doing. It obviously indicates something that unsettles you or makes you uncomfortable. And no one who is doing anything worthwhile has remained in their comfort zone for too long. I hope I have the courage to hit that button when the time comes. Who knows, it may set my life on a totally different course.