As a songwriter, you may be familiar with many negative feelings such as the fear of failure, fear of being seen, or even fear of rejection. If you have something that is holding you back, it may be good to explore the cause. This way you can face it before it leads to self-sabotage. Now, the fear of rejection is completely normal and some great songwriters still live with that fear daily. So here are ways that you can keep that fear in check, and even learn to live alongside that fear or defeat it entirely.
Follow Your Inner Compass
Everyone has an inner compass that guides them, but sometimes with a lot of external noise it can be hard to feel. As a songwriter, you might have a lot of people telling you how to do things. However, you have to quiet all external noise and your negative thoughts in order to hear your internal compass. What is it that feels right to you? Doing what feels right to you is always better than following what other people say. So the next time you feel lost, make sure to sit down, take a deep breath, and think about what your internal compass is telling you.
Share Your Music
If you make music and haven’t released anything, rarely release anything, or hardly promote your music, this is your sign to ramp it up to 100%. Taking your music seriously means that you respect your goals and dreams – and you deserve to be respected! It would be sad to see what you make collect dust, so be sure to give your work the platform it deserves.
Don’t Ever Give Up
As cliche as the phrase “don’t ever give up” is, giving up is literally soul crushing. Especially if this has been something you wanted for a long time, giving up will result in creative death. If it is fear of rejection that is keeping you from going, think about this quote from Wayne Gretzky: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” There is no success without risk. So as hard as it is, keep going!
“If You Can’t Beat Fear, Do it Scared”
If you keep up with the blogs, you may have seen me reference this quote several times. It’s one of my favorite quotes for a reason. Sometimes fear is painted as something we must defeat, like an evil monster that the hero has to slay. But in real life, our fears can be deeply internal – and that’s okay! So if your fear of rejection is so deeply rooted and keeps you from stepping out into the world, do it anyway. It may be scary, but it’ll always be better than having to wonder how things would have turned out if you did.
The fear of rejection is a tough fear to work with, especially for a songwriter. So the next time you feel fear holding you back, remember that fears are natural and there are ways to work through it. Your music is important and should be shared with the world. So, dive into your dreams, and watch them happen!
