Getting to. the point of publishing my book, Flourish, has been a journey of more than three decades—and almost a lifetime of being in love with writing.
Yes, the workload has been massive, and there are so many new things to learn, still. I'd written the book, that was the easy part (for me), but there were what felt like 5 million other processes I needed to get my head around in order to actually publish it. And that, was scaring me senseless.
Making a commitment all those years ago to always do my personal work, I can no longer pretend issues are not there. So, I had to go within. I know that facing feelings head on is the only way.
When I sat down and thought about why I was feeling anxious, took some quiet time to create peace and calm within myself, to meditate, reflect and journal, what I discovered was this: I was actually feeling out of control.
Writing a book is a process, and something I have never been through before. It's complex and tricky, particularly first time around, and there are many steps to take, with multiple layers of detail that need to be addressed. It's not nearly as simple as I thought it might be. And, once I began to see how involved it actually was, I started to feel uneasy and at one point, completely overwhelmed.
However, once I realised what was going on, it all made perfect sense. Of course I was going to feel like it was a lot, because it quite simply is —there's no two ways about that.
As soon as I stopped to recognise what I was feeling, acknowledge it, and process it, my anxiety dissipated. This happened because I understood why I was feeling that way and could then talk myself through it. I then took a step back and started working through the next steps in the process of publishing my book one at a time.
Tell me: When have you felt out of control and what helped? Let me know in the comments.