Blog

Transcription:

Hi, everyone, thank you for listening.
I am sitting at home right now recovering a bit from
a minor elbow injury and no worries,
it’s not a permanent injury.
It’s really just that I stress my body too much.
And probably it also came to just teach me a lesson as well.
But I try to make the best out of it.
That’s why I decided today I want to use the time to create
and post the artwork.
You will see as the cover image of this episode
And the meaning of the artwork you see lays actually,
in a very important question I heard the first time last
year,
The question was what would I do if I weren’t afraid?
in the artwork I try to symbolize this
Hercules statue as overcoming all his fears.
In this case, the snake he’s battling is fear itself.
So what would I do if I weren’t afraid?
Another interesting side aspect of using the
Hercules statue is for me, since
I come from Kassel, K-A-S-S-E-L,
that is in the middle of Germany and the symbol
of the city is the Hercules statue.
So in this case, it’s kind of like
a homage to where I grew up.
But also on the flip side, as a symbol where I am today,
And I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned
was not to follow my fears, like not make
decisions based on my fear and the
things to be afraid of can actually vary
from person to person.
For example, being afraid to make the call we
have to do or maybe to ask somebody out
we always wanted to.
Maybe being afraid of starting a new career.
Being afraid of socializing, being afraid of
creating a musical piece and
presenting it to the world, maybe afraid of writing
something or maybe just being afraid
to speak in front of others.
Or just a general feeling of failing or even in some cases,
the fear of succeeding, like what
will change if I actually succeed?
Like I used to be very afraid of a lot of things when I grew
up, like I was socially very
introverted. I had a lot of fear
of speaking in front of others, I had a hard
time to share my art or share anything
I was creating even my music with others.
But looking at my entire life in the retrospect, I have to
say that being afraid never actually really
served me. All decisions, like how many great things I
probably would have created in the past if
I wouldn’t have been just afraid to do it.
Being afraid of maybe being just criticized for it.
But if I really think about it, what was I afraid of?
I mean, if we really follow something, we feel in our
deepest inner self that
this is who we are, this is what we can put out and this is
what can benefit others, then why being afraid of it?
If I really act from a place which is the real self,
then I cannot help it, because
I would suck being somebody else.
I can just be myself. And I rather have a couple of people who
like me for the way how I am and what I put out and
who doesn’t like it.
That is also completely fine and OK with me.
And funny enough, usually things don’t even turn out as bad
As we most of the time imagine it.
I think actually there’s something very liberating in it.
If things really get out of control or, you know, bad things
happen to you or in all kinds of situations.
For example, when I was a musician, I think that actually
gave me a lot of my personal confidence because standing on
the stage and having a few thousand eyes on you and really
embarrass yourself can have actually a
very really great learning experience.
The more you face those kind of situations, the more you
fail you, more you get criticized,
The more experience you get to learn to accept that stress,
Accept maybe making mistakes, accept being maybe criticized
as long as it’s not keeping me
away from doing what I have to do.
The funny part about it is I know a bunch of people who are
really not afraid of, for example, death.
There’s people who really don’t care if they crash, for
example their motorcycle, into the side of the road.
Or have like all kinds of like very risky activities.
And then funny enough, those people who are absolutely not
afraid to die or anything like that,
are on the flip side,
completely afraid to put anything personal out.
It feels like,
Less stressful to face the fear of dying
than putting a word or a genuine thought
out into the world.
It almost feels like you throw it in front of the hyenas.
But honestly, I feel, at least in my case,
this is really just in my head.
There’s nothing to be afraid of, and that’s why
being afraid is never a good adviser.
So therefore, I ask myself: What would I do
if I weren’t afraid?
What kind of actions, how would I act, how would I go
through my life through my day?
And just as a side note, for everyone who is maybe afraid of
being criticized and therefore not putting out
their very best work or not even releasing some of the
greatest thoughts to have maybe on their mind,
I want to encourage you to put out what you have to put out,
create great things, produce great content,
and don’t be afraid to be criticized for it.
who would never have initiative, who would never do
something out of the ordinary, who don’t start big things.
And so it became just this complacency of
criticizing things others do.
The people who are also very much after creating new things,
risking things, just trying to produce the best they can
and throw it out in the world.
Those are usually people who don’t criticize others.
They know how hard and how complicated it is to actually
create a genuine thought, a genuine
piece of art, for example. Those people who create
for themselves, know the hurdles.
And know how hard it is.
And those are usually the most supportive people, actually,
because they know how hard it is.
That’s why I personally always look if somebody speaks out
in critique and it is also very important to listen to
critique and really reflect on critique,
but under one condition for myself,
I look, if the person, whoever is critiquing
me is how I want to be,
therefore I observe them and I ask myself,
do I want to be like this person?
And if this is somebody I really look up to, I really
respect or has a life which I find very inspiring,
then I will listen to the critique.
But if the life or the attitude of the person who is
critiquing me doesn’t reflect how I want to be,
where I want to be, then I just really ignore it.
Because every single decision in every
person’s life ultimately led to
the place where somebody is right now.
And this is really independent of how this person, for
example, sometimes accidents happen, sometimes
big, bad things happen in people’s lives.
But if somebody really cannot make the very best out of the
situation, then why would I listen to that advice?
I want to be the person wherever I am in my life.
And even if I faced the biggest hardships, I want to be
always having a good attitude,
being positive about it.
And whoever brings those character traits,
then I’m more than happy to listen to them.
The biggest critique I have, for example,
And maybe some of you can also relate to that,
Is the internal critic like this voice inside,
always criticizing and always telling us: What if?
What if it fails?
What if it is not good enough?
Then, funny enough, the same rule applies.
I would just ask myself, am I right now
exactly how I want to be?
And if that’s the case, then I will definitely listen to
this inner critique and this inner voice.
But if I feel that I’m not exactly where I
think I need to be, then I will not listen
to this critique because every single decision and
everything my internal critic was saying to me
led me to be exactly the person I am today.
And this whole point was just to illustrate how irrational
sometimes fears are or what kind
of restraints we put on ourselves just because we are afraid
of any form of consequences of our actions.
But if our actions have the best benefit
of ourselves and of others in mind.
Then what is there to lose and if you feel for
yourself that there is maybe in any way
a fear or that you’re afraid of something.
And this is holding you back from releasing
or making the right call in your life.
I can’t just urge you for my personal
experience, just keep doing it.
Just do it.
If you really believe in it and if you really feel this is
good, just take the leap of faith and do it.
The more people create positive and good output, the better.
And maybe the same question will also work for you,
asking yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid?
What would I do today?
What call of action?
What would I release?
What would I say?
Because fear is never a good adviser.
Just think about the picture of the Hercules statue fighting
the snake and just imagine that the snake is
your fear and Hercules smashing or putting
the snake in its place with this rock.
I think this power is ingrained in everyone
and more people who act from their truest self.
The better, therefore, create good things,
make the right decisions.
And I look forward.
If you have any stories to share where you felt that you
overcame your fears.
What kind of benefits were brought into your life?
Maybe just sharing it.
Maybe somebody else is reading your personal
success story. By overcoming your fears
maybe it will inspire somebody else as well.
Thank you for listening and for your time, I hope you found
something helpful for yourself,
And if you liked it, give it a Like
And please let me know in the comments if you have
any great stories to share.
Thank you so much.
Have a great and creative and inspired day.