The Perfect Antidote

When you start a new story, whether you start that story with an outline or just a single cool idea, there’s a lot about it you don’t know. You probably don’t know how it will really end, what all the characters like and don’t like, or if the middle will sag. What’s more, you will likely discover that what you thought you knew about the story isn’t true at all – your hero is a social worker, not a fireman; or the sword isn’t magic, your heroine just thinks it’s magic. Such is story telling. Our job isn’t to know everything about our story, but to know we are curious about it, and to follow that curiosity to the story’s conclusion.

It’s quite simple, really. However, if you’re like me, you sometimes complicated things. Storytelling gets complicated when I think I have to know something I don’t. It’s a strange game I play with myself. Everything about a story is learned in the telling—the learning being the very point of the telling—and yet I will occasionally fear what I don’t yet know. Maybe it’s how I will weave two elements together, or how that story will be received. I can fear not knowing what the next word in my sentence should be. Fear is fantastically unbiased. It can be applied to anything at all.

Strangely, fear blocks learning, the very thing it’s demanding I do. If I’m afraid I won’t learn what word should come next, that word won’t come. It’s as dependable as gravity. This is true when I write and when I don’t write. Every moment in my life, like a new sentence, is different than the moment that preceded it. Either I’m curious about it that next moment, or I’m afraid of it. Boredom is just fear, really, fear that there’s nothing interesting present in life at given time. Anger is fear, also, fear that something will harm me. On and on.

It’s quite simple, really. Do I forget how simple it is? Only constantly. That’s okay. The truth doesn’t change because I’ve forgotten it. It doesn’t hold a grudge or scold or abandon. It’s just there all the time, patient and dependable and friendly, the perfect antidote to the complications of fear.

If you like the ideas and perspectives expressed here, feel free to contact me about individual coaching and group workshops.

Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence.
You can find William at: williamkenower.com