The Fear

There is, apparently, a common dream that you end up somewhere like work or school naked or in just your underwear. Dreams For Dummies claims it refers to one’s focus on ‘privacy, modesty, honesty or being exposed’ and that ‘[b]eing in your underwear in public indicates you feel vulnerable’ amongst other things. There are few things that make you feel as exposed as the ‘arts’, whether it’s writing or acting or any artistic vocalisation of one’s self. The wonderfully accurate fountain of knowledge that is Wikipedia defines the arts as all human endeavours that are ‘united by their employment of the human creative impulse’. In layman’s terms, anything creative, anything one being, or a collective, have pulled from the recesses of their mind and put on display for the world to see.

And so the arts are not only a way you choose to expose yourself but they demand that you do so. Whether or not you plan to show your work to somebody, you’ve still physicalised it, on paper, on stage, in movement, in voice. Even if you’re the only person who will see your work, you’re still exposing the back of your mind to your own external viewing. Thinking about it in those terms, it’s hardly surprising that so many artists give up before they’ve even started and so many attics of so many houses are home to abandoned manuscripts and canvases. It’s also not surprising, when one considers this, that several artists are accused of having big egos. What better shield to yourself from the unpleasantness exposure can bring than self-assurance and confidence in your own brilliance as an artist?

 Still, whether or not you have a big ego, as an artist, there’s bound to be some part of you terrified of what exposing yourself in such a way might result in. In the end, if you truly want to be an artist, that desire has to outweigh that fear and if it doesn’t, perhaps it just isn’t meant to be. Or, perhaps, artists enjoy that fear of what might result from exposing themselves, the risk of what’s to come. Maybe, to those of us who don’t launch themselves off cliff-edges and swim with sharks, it’s our own version of thrill-seeking. Personally, I think both are correct and an artist will fall into one of the two categories, those who expose themselves despite fearing to do so, their urge for creativity overwhelming their fears, and those who expose themselves because they enjoy the thrill of doing so.

But, whatever category you as an artist fall into, there remains that moment, just before you take the leap, step out on stage, begin to recite or peel back the curtain, when fear sets in and you want to change your mind. But, however scary it is, you’ve just got to keep peeling back the layers and let yourself be vulnerable. Just remember that old advice: pretend they’re in their underwear and you’ll be fine.