For me, this post is all about overcoming fear in our creative process. I loved being able to have that constructive criticism from a professional creative in the field. But it was the first time in a long while that I was confronted with my own fears of inadequacy - at least as it relates to creativity. Forcing myself to work through that fear and the structures in my life that supported those fears made me realize how important it is to challenge ourselves on the personal growth level, not just the external craft level. I could have turned my internal awareness off and focused on the mechanical pieces of the work, I could have completely protected myself from the possibility of fear or rejection by simply self editing on my own. Instead, I allowed myself to process those fears as I engaged in this experience and I noticed my internal dialogue, my own inner critic was really hard on me and not at all supportive of putting myself out there.
How can you change that inner dialogue to allow for more encouragement as you step into your creative process? By sharing your progress that fear dialogue is silenced because you realize that by sharing your work at whatever stage, you are claiming your space; you need to validate your experience before anyone else does - because they may not be able to accept such courage in the face of vulnerability.