how to overcome submission anxiety

So, you’ve created a child. It’s your wordy, painted, sculpted, pixelated, or moving baby. Maybe it’s a bit ugly, got a few wrinkles here and there, a little squirmy- but you’re a proud parent of your creation. Maybe it’s been stowed in your Google Drive, files, flash drive, phone, or the back of your closet for a while now, but it’s yours and honestly, it’s pretty beautiful.  You want to share it, you know it’s a good idea to get published, put another line on your resume, or maybe just have yet another reason to be proud of your little bundle of creativity.

 But- you’re scared. What if it’s bad? What if it’s not good enough? What if nobody likes it? What if it’s not as good as you think it is? Well, just like your parents may have felt about you when you went out into the world for the first time, sometimes you have to just let your creation go free before you’re fully ready to. Before you’re really sure if it can handle all the world might throw at it. Before you’re sure if the chance of success is worth the risk of failure.

 Here at Beyond Thought, we’re always going to encourage you to share your creation with us. Not because we want to hate it or criticize it, but because we want to celebrate it, highlight it, raise it up to the sky like little Simba at the beginning of The Lion King. And yes, there’s a risk of it not being what we’re looking for and it being rejected, but that by no means means that we think you’re a bad creator, a terrible artist, or a failure for life. In fact, we’d love to see names pop up again, with a new creation that’s grown and learned since the last time we saw you. In the case of this journal, a place where we want to celebrate and curate art, there’s no better place to try even if you fail, because the risk doesn’t have to be too terribly painful at all. Best case, you’re in a beautifully designed journal, getting published, and can add an extra line to your resume and worst case, you learn and try again- keep creating like you already should and will be. 

Submitting to Beyond Thought can be a stepping stone in your creative journey no matter what happens next or what the response is. It’s a chance to grow as a parent and as a creator, to accept that your art deserves to be shared even if it’s imperfect, in progress, or unsure of itself. If you’re proud of it, then be proud of it and proudly share it with the world, with us.

I don’t know for sure where you’re at in your creative journey, what thoughts are racing through your head when you debate clicking the submit button, what insecurities keep you from sharing your creations with the world, but I do know something about my own journey with those anxieties. 

I started a blog almost a year ago and was petrified for a good portion of it. Almost every time I’ve stepped out to share what I cared about- whether it be a cause or a creation- I’ve been petrified. There’s a vulnerability in sharing what you care about, in letting a piece of you see the light of the world. However, even when I failed, even when I stood in empty art auction rooms or waited for a few stragglers to walk in or only two people read my blog post or I sheepishly donated the few dollars I raised or shared my creation only to hear criticism and critique rather than support- I learned. I learned resilience, I learned how to apply my creativity better, I looked for sunshine to pour in through the cracks in my poor beginner’s craftsmanship and then I chased it. 

Even in those empty rooms, that low conversion rate, or my desperate calls for support, I still found communities who helped me, who gave me wisdom, who let me come to them with honest questions. I want to encourage you that Beyond Thought wants to be that place for you. So much of our content is about support, education, and celebration that I don’t want you to think for a second we are seeking to criticize or tear down your work, even if it’s rejected. We recognize the vulnerability and fear in sharing your work with us and we want to respect that as best we can. And, yes, even if it is rejected, I encourage you to ask yourself how you can learn for next time, how this may be an opportunity to see sunshine in those cracks- whether it be in your creation itself, how you prepare it for submission, or what you choose to submit in the first place. 

Next time, we’ll touch a bit more on the practical ways you can prepare a submission for the journal, but for now, I encourage you to have the courage and share your work with the world, to let us into your process and journey. Sit with your mindset and your fears as a creator, because they will not stop creeping up after you submit or, even more so, if you let the submission deadline pass by because you’re too nervous. The creator’s life is not one of pass or fail, but one of constant growth, of planting seeds and seeing what happens, of pushing paint on a canvas and seeing where it leads you. Let Beyond Thought Journal be a sanctuary for you to grow and flourish, even if that means a walk back to the drawing board. Let go, and let yourself and your creation grow.