Self-Sufficiency: You don't need approval.

Self-sufficiency as an artist includes this: you do not need anyone’s approval to create. You need no one’s permission to make your art. You are totally free to do whatever you want to do with your life and craft.

I have a performance coming up. Born Again Yesterday will be playing the Nightingale Theater in Tulsa, OK, on November 15th and 22nd. As I prepare for this new iteration of the show, I’m plagued with doubts.

Can I say these things? Who might be offended? What will my friends/family say? Will any of it matter to anyone? Will it be relevant? Will I just be wasting everyone’s time?

All of this is approval-seeking. It’s a bad practice. It halts creation. It hampers momentum. It gets in the way.

So what do I do?

I acknowledge the questions. Like Havi illustrates frequently, I talk to the fears and frustrations. I identify what concerns they’re alerting me to. I take note of those…

And then I act ANYWAY.

If I don’t acknowledge the fear, I won’t get past it. So acknowledge it. Then act. I leave this with a little ditty from one of my annually-read novels.

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”
- Frank Herbert, Dune