You get asked to do something awesome like taking pictures for a well-known web magazine, and you’re on top of the world. This is so.totally.cool. Forty-eight hours and three meltdowns later, you’ve dumped all your self-confidence into ten casseroles. More accurately, ten photos. Ten. Stinkin. JPEGs. And then comes the obsessive online searching. Are they there yet? They’re not there yet. Why aren’t they there yet? And then – whoa – they’re there. Wait, what? They’re there! Those are my photos?! And suddenly, something weird happens. Instead of feeling proud and excited, you feel scared and nervous and disappointed, like they aren’t your best, and what if people don’t like them, and what if they’re not really that good anyways, and what if you never get asked to do anything like this again, and what will people say about you, and, and… There are a lot of things that I learned from my experience last weekend. One of those things is that negative, obsessive, fearful, and unproductive thinking is totally real. And it’s totally me. It actually has a name. It’s called the Lizard Brain. Have you heard of it? On his blog, Seth Godin says “Your lizard brain is here to stay, and your job is to figure out how to quiet it and ignore it.” {deepbreath} That’s seriously hard. But guess what? An anxious, negative mindset is not n-o-t NOT going to help do a better job next time. It’s just not. And I do want to do things better, so it’s time to get over it. I wanted to share this on my blog because I think we all feel this way, no matter where we are at with cooking, photography, blogging, or just life. We all have a Lizard Brain that says, I don’t have enough Facebook likes, and my photos aren’t as good as so-and-so, and I hardly have any followers, and this is never going to work, and, and… and… stop that. I’m challenging myself to be proud of what I’m doing, not fixate on the small things that I wish I would have done differently, and be ready to take on the next challenge. Even if it’s ten casseroles! Oiy, maybe it’s too soon for that one. Thanks for letting me unpack this whole thing with you. I’d love to hear about your thoughts, experiences, or strategies related to that ol’ Lizard Brain! Let’s take this thing down together.
