Transcripts
1. Welcome to the Forest of Fear: My guess is that as a creative, you've experienced fear
on your journey. A lot. Fear might show up on your path as the fear of messing up, making a mistake,
choosing the wrong path, not being good enough, and so on, etc. The list of fears that
we encounter out here in the creative wilderness
can feel endless at times. But what if fear
can actually become a trusty friend and guide for you out
here on your journey. What if fear could
actually show you your next steps
with more clarity? Hey, I'm Liz, I'm an illustrator and creative
educator in New Mexico, and I own a creative company
called Prints and Plants. I have spent many years
navigating the highs, lows and unknowns of the
creative wilderness. Now, I'm so excited to share my field notes and tips
with you in this series so that you can gain
more confidence in your own creative track and know that you're not
alone out there. If you're currently
sitting there feeling fear on your journey, then congratulations,
you are creative. Fear is just a
natural inherent part of creativity and being human. It's something I still probably feel every
day at some point. In fact, it's come up multiple times when creating
this class series. Fear is a very useful tool to show us how to
protect ourselves. But sometimes fear can
prevent us from expressing ourselves in full authenticity
on our creative journeys. We definitely don't want that. That's why in today's class in the creative
wilderness tip series, we're visiting the forest of fear where I'm sharing
how to transform your fear into a friend and guide to show you your next
steps on your journey. I'll be sharing how to one, recognize fear when it shows
up on your creative journey. Two, transform that fear into a guide for
your next steps. Three, move out of
the forest of fear to keep trucking confidently
forward on your unique path. Are you ready to dive
in? Let's get started. By the way, if you've taken
one of the classes in this creative wilderness
tip series before, and are already well acquainted with how it works
and what you need, then you can jump straight
ahead to lesson number 4.
2. Your Class Project: In this lesson,
we're talking about your creative wilderness
class project. Your class project
for this portion of the creative wilderness
tip series is to print off the creative
wilderness field guide PDF and fill out the
Forest of Fear section. In this section, you'll
find the following prompts: Tune into
your physical cues, approach new territory, the intersection of
fear and excitement, expansion versus contraction, transform your what-ifs, and make your fear tangible. You'll learn more about
these prompts throughout this class so that you can fill them out in
your field guide. You can find the creative
wilderness field guide linked in the Projects and
Resources tab of this class. You can find that by
navigating to this bar, clicking "Projects & Resources", and navigating to the
right side of the page. Once you've completed
the Forest of Fear section of your creative
wilderness field guide, snap a photo and upload it to
the Class Project section. You can do this by navigating
to the Projects and Resources tab and clicking
"Create Project". Here you can upload a photo of your completed section
of the field guide. Be sure to include both
a cover photo image as well as an image
inside of this box. You can also type
additional notes and observations from your creative wilderness
journey into this space. Make sure you hit "Publish"
when you are finished to save your project to
the project gallery. In the next lesson, we'll
go over the materials you'll need for this
class. I'll see you there.
3. Gather Your Materials: In this lesson, we're going over the materials you'll need for this section of the Creative
Wilderness tips journey. For this class, you'll need your creative
wilderness field guide, which is found in the projects
and resources section. You'll also need a pen, pencil, or writing
utensil of choice, and a phone to take a photo of the completed field guide and upload to the class
project section. That's it. In the next lesson, you'll learn the tips to
recognize and become familiar with fear on your creative
journey. I'll see you there.
4. Become Familiar with Fear: In this lesson, you'll learn
actionable tips for how to recognize fear when it shows up on your creative
wilderness journey. The forest of fear can be sneaky on our creative
wilderness journey. It can feel like it
shows up out of nowhere. Because what often
happens is that the forest of fear pops up right after we'd been
in the flow state. The flow state
feels really great. [LAUGHTER] That flow as I shared in the flow state
class in this series, which you can access by going to my profile page
and navigating to the creative wilderness
tip section is when everything is driving and working and clicking into place. The flow state is
a spot on the map where everything just
feels really good. Like we're good at our craft and we're not questioning
what we're doing. We're just moving without obstruction in the current
of our creativity. Then suddenly, and it
can be an instant, the forest of fear shows
up and we're pulled out of flow and into resistance,
overthinking and worry. Sound familiar? Dropping
out of flow and into overthinking is one of the first indicators that you've entered into
the forest of fear. Your brain turns away from fluidity and into
what-if questions like, what if I'm not
doing this right? What if I'm not good enough? What if there's already
enough art out in the world? What if she's better than me? What if I don't know the
next step after this one? The forest of fear
and these what if questions can lead us to
get ahead of ourselves, start future tripping and
worrying about the next step rather than continuing forward in the flow of the
present moment. This what if thing
totally stops that flow, brings us out of our bodies, out of the connection with
our materials and into our brains where overthinking
stops us in our tracks. While overthinking is
one of the main ways to notice that you've entered the forest of fear
on your journey. Fear can also manifest itself as the following
physical feelings. Take note of any of these
that resonate with you that you felt recently on
your own creative path. Feeling stuck, feeling uncertain of which step to take next. Overwhelm, stagnancy,
inhibition, confusion, feeling flushed, sweaty palms, slight nausea, heart racing,
pit in your stomach. All super fun. Have you felt any
of these feelings lately on your creative path? If so, they are good indications that you've entered into
the forest of fear. No shame, and not to fear. It's totally normal to be there. For me personally, I can recognize when I've walk
into the forest of fear, when I'm overthinking and also when I feel it in
my gut right in here, and it just does not feel good. It makes me feel stuck and
hesitant to share my work. Sometimes I can
feel fear manifest in my body or my cheeks get red. and I feel so nervous
about creating or sharing my work that I
don't take any action at all. Fear also often
manifests in my body by making me feel like I'm
caving in on myself. Like I'm physically going inward and how this will
weight on my shoulders. It feels like I'm
curling in on myself. It just feels like this
pressure that just pushes me down and closes me off, rather than a sense of freedom and lightness
and expansion. These are some of my personal physical cues that
I've learned to notice as indicators that fear is starting to take
over my journey. Some of these might feel really familiar to you
and there might be some crossover with how you
physically experience fear, or it might be
totally different. To distinguish what
your physical cues are, take a moment now to reflect in your field guide
on the last time you felt fear on your
creative journey. What did it feel like? When did it show up? How did
it manifest in your body? What did it lead you
to believe about your creative work
journey and yourself? Now take a look at
your responses in the field guide and notice any common threads for
how fear shows up for you and what it physically
feels like in your body. Paying attention to
these common threads will help you recognize fear more quickly and clearly when it appears
on your journey. Instead of feeling
stuck, stagnant, confused, or like running
away to hide in a cave. You can say, I
recognize this feeling. This is just fear showing up. I know you, you're
an old friend, you're familiar and a totally normal stop
on this journey. What are you here to
teach me in this moment? Where are you leading me next? Recognizing fear when it
shows up is the first step to transform it into
a helpful guide to move forward on your journey. Because when you can
start to see fear as an old common friend who
just shows up sometimes. It can be more familiar, less scary, and less
intimidating to approach. Rather than trying to
ignore your fear or push it away or not even realize that
it's showing up for you. You can instead
start a conversation with that to ask
how it is actually trying to guide you
and be a friend to direct you forward on your path? In this way, when you
really get to know and recognize fear
on a deep level, it can actually lead you into your next moments of expansion
and creative possibility. In addition to the
physical cues that let you know you've entered
the forest of fear. You can also recognize
that fear starting to take over when you're venturing
into new territory. See, one of the patterns that
I've noticed out here in the creative wilderness
is that fear loves to show up when
something is new, novel, and unknown. This new thing could
be a new medium, a new business, income stream, a new project, or a new client. All of these new things
are often what brings us straight out of flow and
into the forest of fear. The fear that
specifically accompanies novelty can sometimes be
confused with intuition. We shouldn't be moving into this new thing or
taking action on it. When in reality we're just
standing on the edge of our growth and being pushed
beyond our comfort zone, which is such a great thing. When you approach
something new like this, how can you distinguish
between fear and intuition? Well, one phrase I love to say to myself as a
check-in came from a former boss I had who when we were trying a new task
or system would say, "It's not scary, it's just new." I love this phrase so much
because it's so freeing. It's not scary, it's just new. Now when I'm approaching
a new task or a big new step and I feel myself starting to enter
the forest of fear. I say this phrase and
check in with my body. Does the phrase
put me at ease and allow me to take
another step forward? Does it feel like a deep exhale or does something still feel
off or not quite right? If something's still feels off, I can dig in deeper to my intuition to see
what needs to change. But if the phrase
puts me at ease and I feel relieved and excited again, then I can know that fear
is mostly just showing up because I'm approaching
new territory, which is totally normal. Of course, fear shows up
around the new thing. It's unknown so there are
questions and concerns and worries that come up and
that's all totally okay. It's just like
exploring a new section of the wilderness or
taking a new trail. There are hesitations,
worries, and unknowns. It's normal to be a bit
concerned or anxious about that. But honestly as a whole, that's all the creative
wilderness is, one big unknown. There's so much to discover
and figure out and learn. Of course, we're scared. But my guess is that when you're approaching
something new, you also have a
sense of excitement. When you can focus less
attention on the fear and more attention on
the possibilities that exist in this new endeavor, then you can drop back
into the feeling of creative expansion and flow instead of creative
caving and inhibition. When you find yourself
entering the forest of fear, ask if you're just there because you're embarking
on something new. If so, try to approach that new endeavor as something
exciting and full of possibility rather
than something to be scared of or
back away from. Now take a moment in your
field guide to jot down the last time you
approach something new on your creative journey. What was it? What
fearful thoughts or beliefs came up
around the new endeavor? Did that fear stop you from moving forward and
taking action? If so, how could you
reframe the fear to move forward the next time
you approach something new. Now that you can better
recognize how the forest of fear shows up on your
creative wilderness journey. Join me in the next
lesson where I'll share my main tips to transform that fear into a guide for the next steps on your
path. I'll see you there.
5. Transform Your Fear into a Guide: In this lesson, I'm showing
two tips to transform fear into a guide for your
creative wilderness journey. Now that you can
better recognize how the forest of fear shows
up on your journey, it's time to transform
it from something to avoid into a helpful
guide to move forward. To do this, tip number 1 is to look for the intersection
of fear and excitement. As I mentioned in
the last lesson, when we're embarking
on new territory, it can feel scary,
but also super exciting and that combo,
that's the sweet spot. When you're so stoked
about something, so excited and giddy and terrified at the
exact same time. I found through my experience in the creative wilderness, that when I'm walking that edge between those two emotions of fear and excitement is when I know that I need to take action, I need to lean into the fear
rather than away from it. When fear shows up in
tandem with excitement, then I can trust
that the fear is guiding me forward to
walk this new path. In fact, Author Mel Robbins explains that fear
and excitement are actually experienced as
the same physical cues and state in your body, heart racing, palm
sweating, tight chest, etc. She shares that the only
true difference between these two states
is what your brain is doing while your
body is reacting. If you're excited, your
brain is totally on board with the activity at hand
and stoked to move forward. If you're fearful,
your brain is backing away and saying no
to taking action. She suggests that to move from
fear and into excitement, you reframe the experience. By the way, remember that we talked about packing mindset, specifically reframing for your creative wilderness journey in the first class
in this series, which you can go
back to access on my profile page if you haven't yet or just
need a refresher. Mel Robbins suggests
that rather than saying, "Oh man, I'm so scared
to start this project." Or, "I'm so scared to pitch
my work to that client." You would say, "I am so excited
to start this project." Or, "I am so excited to pitch
my work to that client." Notice how your body and
mind start to shift. Yes, your heart is
likely still racing, palms are sweating, the same
physical cues for fear. But with this reframe, you're sending a
message to your brain that you're not fearful,
you're excited. Same physical cues, different
message to the brain. I've linked the full video
where Mel Robbins explains this exercise in more detail in the description
of this class. Now take a moment to jot down in your field guide any
activities, opportunities, or paths that are
a combination of both fear and excitement
on your creative journey. How can you reframe
the fear into excitement to take action
on this new endeavor? Tip number 2 to transform
fear into a guide is to do a body check-in that I call
expansion or contraction. This is a technique that I learned in a podcast years ago. I think it was Marie
Forleo who mentioned it, but it has been so helpful as another physical exercise
to transform fear. For example, maybe you're
terrified to start your own creative business and that fear has been
holding you back. But you also know deep down on a gut level that you feel
intuitively guided to do it. Is it the fear or the intuition that stopping you
from taking action? Let's do this exercise to
check in and find out. For the example of
deciding whether or not to start your own
creative business, you would pause, take a breath, close your eyes, and imagine saying yes,
to this decision. Immediately notice how your body feels when you imagine
yourself saying yes. Do you feel like your
body is expanding, open, light, and full of growth? Or do you feel like your body is curling or caving in on itself? Like you're shrinking and having a weight pressing down
on your shoulders. Don't overthink this. Just notice the
immediate physical feeling you experience
when he say yes. Now, do the same thing when you imagine saying no
to this decision. When you imagine saying no to this example of starting
your own creative business, how does your body
immediately react? Do you feel expansion
or contraction? Expansion and contraction are two very different
feelings in your body. That difference can be
subtle at times and also so telling for
which direction, and which step to take next. Typically, if you feel expanded by the
decision to go for it, then fear is just trying to keep you in your comfort zone. If you feel contracted by
the decision to go for it, then your intuition is
likely trying to tell you something and it'd be wise to take some time to
dig in deeper there, to tune in and
listen to your gut. This is an exercise I use so frequently and as I've
practiced it more, I've been able to
more quickly feel if a decision is aligned and
expansive or contracted. I use this as a guide to
distinguish between my fear and intuition to know which
step to take forward. Now take a moment to practice
this exercise for yourself. Bring a decision that you're
trying to make to mind, ideally one that has some confusion between what is fear and what is intuition. Which decision makes
you feel expansive? Which decision makes
you feel contracted? Jot down your answers and observations in
your field guide, as well as any reflections you
have about the experience. In the next lesson, I'm sharing my main tips for you to
move out of the forest of fear and onward into the rest of your creative journey.
I'll see you there.
6. Move Beyond Fear: Now that you know how
to recognize fear and transform it into a
guide on your journey. In this lesson let's go over
the main tips to move out of the forest of fear to continue
forward on your trek. If we're in the forest of
fear and we don't recognize that we're there or we
allow it to take over, we can quickly become stagnant
and stuck on our journey. As I mentioned in the become
familiar with fear lesson, fear often manifest itself
as feeling stagnant, stuck, or totally stopped. Often, to overcome that
stagnancy of fear, you must take action. Lean in, dive deeper. When we lean into the
areas that we fear, we can be led out of
the forest of fear. Leaning in leads us out. The tips I have for
you to move beyond the forest of fear
are: number 1, start to transform the
"what ifs" that pop up on your journey into
something positive. For example, "What if I fail?" can turn into, "What if
the best thing happens?" "What if I can't do it?" can turn into, "what if
I learn something new?" "What if it doesn't
lead anywhere?" can turn into, "What if my
next step is revealed to me?" "What if I'm terrible at it?" can turn into, "What
if I'm good enough?" Not perfect, just good enough. Those are just a few reframes of many around the
"what ifs" because just as easily as
"what ifs" can lead to fear in action and contraction, "what ifs" can also
lead to expansion, possibility, and
creative momentum. Now take a moment
in your field guide to write down some of
your fearful "what ifs" and transform them into "what ifs" that are
full of possibility. Tip number 2, use the 5,4,3,2,1 exercise
from Mel Robbins. This exercise is simple. If you find yourself
stuck in fear, countdown like you are a
rocket ship about to take off. Literally say out loud
or in your brain, 5,4,3,2,1, and then
move into action. Mel Robbins explains that
this exercise moves you from a bias towards thinking
into a bias towards action. She goes deeper into the science behind this simple exercise, in episode number 499, of Jenna Kutcher's
Goal Digger podcast. I've linked that episode in this description of the class
if you want to learn more. Tip number 3, I'll cover this one in more depth
later on this journey, but the third tip is to have and build a creative community. Having a community of creatives who understand
your journey, speak your language,
and get what you're going through is essential
to dissipating fear. Because fear can become
stagnant in our bodies, it's so important to talk about fear with other creatives, to air it out, get it out in
the open and normalize it. When you externalize your
fear, give it a name, put it out of your body,
and into conversation, it can start to subside. One powerful way
to do this is to call a creative friend and
your community and say, "Hey, I'm terrified to start
this creative project." They can say, "Hey, I've been there and you've got this or this is what I learned." Just hearing from
someone else that it's normal to feel the fear, is a huge component
in releasing it, moving forward, and making
traction out of the forest. Tip number 4, make something. This can feel
really intimidating when you're in the
forest of fear, but just make something unrelated to your usual
creative practice. If you're a painter, go take
photographs with your phone. If you're an illustrator,
go try some embroidery. Don't make a project
that you're going to show anybody or sell for money. Just something you can tangibly
create with your hands to start to get out of stagnancy and back into creative flow, movement, and momentum
again. Tip number 5. Take an online class in
an industry unrelated to your typical industry so that
there's no pressure on you. This can put you into a state of beginner's mind where
you can just play, have fun, and experiment. You can move out of
judgment and fear of making mistakes because you've
never done this before. The stakes are low, so
you can let go, have fun, and play, which are all huge
actions to release fear. Tip number 6, move your body; run, dance, walk, hike, stretch, whatever works for you. Because fear often manifests
itself physically, when you move your body you can start to transform and move that fear out of your body to tap back into ease and flow. Personally for me, this
looks like running where I can start to clear my mind
and remove that gunky, stagnant fear energy out of the way to continue
forward on my journey. Tip number 7, write it down. Freewrite your fear or fears, stream of consciousness
style on a sheet of paper. Making your fear
tangible and seeing it on paper can
be a huge help to witness that as real
as the fear feels in your mind and
tangible reality, it might not be
logical, make sense, or actually be something
to be afraid of. Once you freewrite
your fears on paper, then freewrite your
answer to this question. What's the worst that could happen if this fear came true? Then freewrite your
answer to this question. But what would I do
if that happened? For me, I love to
have a plan for fear because then I can see what
I would do if it happened. This can put me at ease enough to take action and move forward. Let's say I have a fear of a company rejecting
my portfolio. If I ask what's the
worst that could happen if this fear came true? The answer would
be that they say, no, we don't want
to work with you. Then what would I do
if that happened? I would send my work to
a different company. Big deal, totally doable. Sure, rejection is no fun, but now I have a tangible, actionable plan for my fear. I no longer need to
be stuck because I can visibly see what's
holding me back and I know I'll be just fine if that fear comes
true. I have a plan. That fear doesn't hold
as much weight because I can see it and
know my next step. This is huge to stay in
momentum, movement, and flow. There's a page in
the field guide for you to complete this, write it down exercise. Tip number 8, set a deadline. If you have a fear related to a new project or
creative endeavor, set a deadline for when you will finish this new activity. For example, say, I'm going
to finish this project by this Friday at 5:00 PM and then treat that
deadline as truth. This can be motivation
to push through the fear and just
finish the thing, not make it perfect,
just finished. Now take a moment
in your field guide to jot down the tip
that you're going to implement to move through your fear and forward on
your creative journey. In the next lesson, I'm sharing a tangible example of how I
implemented these tips when I was recently in the
forest of fear on my own creative wilderness
journey. I'll see you there.
7. Learn from a Tangible Example: In this lesson, I'm showing a tangible example of how I use the tips I've mentioned today to move out of the
forest of fear. I usually feel fear
at least once a day in my creative
business in some way. Whether it's a new project, a new medium, client, etc. One One the most recent examples of entering the
forest of fear on my journey happened
when I wanted to send my illustration portfolio
to companies for licensing. I've had the goal to license my artwork for about two years. A lot of fears have stopped
me from taking action, like not having the
work I wanted to pitch yet and the overwhelm of
not knowing how to pitch. A lot of fears also came from the worry of doing
it wrong or messing up or not having good enough
work, Hey, perfectionism. For two years all of these
fears stopped me in my tracks for moving forward
on this journey and sending out my work. Then a few months ago, I sent out my first
five emails to five different art directors with samples from my portfolio, a huge action step forward. How did I get out
of the stagnancy of fear and interaction? Well, first I recognize
that the fear was there. I noticed that fear was
showing up because I was embarking on something
totally new. I felt stagnant and confused
about which action to take, so I knew I was in
the forest of fear. Then I named what it was that
I was scared of rejection, not having enough work,
worrying about doing it wrong. Only once I had acknowledged
those fears could I start to transform them
into a guide forward. I recognize that, yes, I had fears around this new endeavor and I was
also incredibly excited to learn about this
new process and send my work out into
the world in this way, when I checked in
with my body using the expansion versus
contraction technique, saying yes to sending my work to art directors made
me feel expansive. These check-ins made
me feel more confident that fear was actually guiding
me forward on this path. With that, I made
a tangible plan. I researched how to pitch, I added illustrations
to my portfolio, and then I sent out those
first five emails to art directors. You
want to know a secret. When I sent those
first five emails, I still didn't feel
totally ready. There is no perfect time, no perfect portfolio,
and no perfect method. Before sending those emails, even when I had the
work that I was proud of that I wanted to send, I had the email addresses, I had the companies,
the research, I had it all ready. Fear still showed up, sweaty palms, flushed
cheeks, heart racing. I was still terrified to send the work because I
wasn't sure what the response was going
to be and it was still a totally new action on
my creative journey. I recognized that fear
and reminded myself, it's not scary, it's just new. I also recognized
that this feeling was excitement and I sent off
that first batch of pitches. I also reminded
myself that after I sent that first batch
of five emails, it would start to feel
easier over time. The more I did this, the more
it would start to feel like known familiar territory and there would be less
fear around it. A month later, I sent
out my second batch of emails and it didn't feel
easier and more fluid. Yes, there was still some fear, but it was less scary. We'll see what happens
with this new territory. I'm releasing
outcomes and focusing on what I can control
in the process, which is continuing to
make and pitch my work. Because the more
action we can take, the more we can move beyond
the fear and use it as fuel to continue forward on our creative
wilderness journey. In the next lesson,
we're chatting about sharing your class project.
I'll see you there.
8. Publish Your Class Project: Once you've finished
implementing these tips, take a photo of your
completed forest of fear section and the creative
wilderness field guide. Then upload that photo to the class project
section of this class. Remember that you can upload your class project by
going to the Projects and Resources tab and clicking
the Create Project button. Once you've uploaded your photo, be sure to hit "Publish". Also be sure to check
out other class projects from your fellow creatives
in the project gallery. We're all out here together. So let's show support for
each other's journeys. Be sure to let me know in
the discussion section which fears are coming up on your creative wilderness
journey and which tips you're applying to use that fear as a guide to keep
trucking forward. In the next lesson, I'm sharing the next
stop we'll encounter together on their creative
wilderness journey. I'll see you there.
9. Thank You & Next Steps: [MUSIC] Thank you so much for tuning into this class in the creative
wilderness tip series. I hope you're feeling
more equipped, confident, and totally stoked to keep trekking into the
wilderness together. Remember that the
forest of fear is a totally normal spot out here in the
creative wilderness. Many other creatives are experiencing it alongside
of you right now. If you're there right now,
implement the tips from this class to carry onward in your creative
wilderness journey. In the next class
in this series, we're visiting process plateau, where I'll share my
tips for how to regain energy and momentum for
your creative practice. When you're feeling stuck, stagnant, or just plain
bored with your process. In the meantime, be sure to follow me here on Skillshare to stay up-to-date on new classes by hitting that "Follow" button. Hang out with me over on
Instagram at Prints & Plants, and check out more of my work
at www.printsandplants.com. Stay wild, stay creative, and I'll see you soon [MUSIC].
Liz Brindley, Illustrator
