This chapter discusses a very important topic that disrupts our thoughts in the creative process that people don’t talk about much, but everyone has felt it at some point: fear of others.
The fear of standing out, and standing out badly, has been a big thing in our societies; no matter how much we like to admit it (or not), sometimes we don’t do what we want, share our thoughts, or pursue something because we are aware of the fact that people and society as a whole has too much power to decide if your creative thought is acceptable and approvable. This is why, most times, people tend to suppress their ideas and dreams, which oftentimes leaves them very sad and regretful later in life.
While reading this chapter, I immediately remembered my feelings and emotions during my first dance class ever, where I didn’t understand the professor’s language, wasn’t as flexible, or had as much experience as the other dancers, part of me felt scared, ridiculed, and very embarrassed, at least for the first few classes, I always had ideas and build on for the choreographies but then keep them to myself because I was scared that I would be suggesting something crazy, because of that, the first few months I did dance, I didn’t feel any improvement or evolvement in my dance.
The moment I saw change and progress was when criticism of my dancing was accepted in moderation in a cheering way and from specific people. I started exploring different moves and ways to dance, experimenting with isolating different body parts. I felt so much progress when I stopped overthinking and caring so much about what other dancers would think about me. So in a way, this is what this chapter teaches us, be fearless, don’t doubt yourself too much, and allow yourself to go through the lateral process, accept it and welcome it with open arms.