Help – My baby is ugly!

Every time I write a deeply personal blog I get wracked by self-doubt.  On a self-doubt scale ranging from ‘a smidgen’ to ‘paralysing’, this leans far towards the latter.

I always question whether this will be valuable for my readers?  Am I getting too personal (it’s a blog – not group therapy!).  I feel vulnerable and fear being judged.  I call this suite of symptoms the ‘My baby is ugly’ syndrome: the fear people might find our precious output unsightly.

It’s a shadowy world to inhabit even briefly and stops us from challenging ourselves.  A couple of things have helped me.  The first is to run stuff past a trusted mentor.  I often ask Kath Walters, friend, veteran journalist and content guru, for her opinion.  Kath also shoots straight from the hip, which is exactly what I need when plagued by self-doubt.  Life is full of naysayers; to balance it out we all need some ‘truth-sayers’: people who have the courage to call it as it is.  They’ll tell you if your baby is ugly, or let you know when your fear is distorting reality.

People respond strongly when I get personal, as you can see here, here and here, and I feel the same way – I love more personal blog posts.  We can all relate to honest expressions about the vulnerability and frailty of being human (the challenge is in being the one that puts it out there).  However the responses I get from my audience give me swathes of courage.  On the courage meter this is off the charts.

What ugly babies have you grappled with?  Please share – I love hearing from you.