shhh... what will people think?

My kids and I went to a festival on the weekend and participated in some ‘installation art’ (a first for us).  There were some big wooden letters set up in a park with some textas, so that the public could write messages on the art anonymously.

My 13-year-old wrote the predictable, ‘I heart Justin Bieber’, and someone else declared, ‘I’m in love’. Another wrote an environmental message about less cars, more trees, but it was this one – written in what looked like serious male handwriting - which caught my eye:

I’m a banker but I want to be a guitarist.

I wondered who wrote it.  Has he told anyone about his secret desire, or does he just declare it anonymously?  Does he feel as ‘safe’ sharing his dreams with his friends as he does with the public?  What's holding him back?

Most of us have parts of ourselves that we keep hidden from others, because we’re afraid.  The usual culprits are:

• What will people think? 
• What if they find out the truth about me?  
• Will they still like me as much?
• Am I good enough?  
• What if I fail? 

One of my secret dreams ... now, don’t laugh ... is to write a Mills & Boon novel.  Yes - I’ve been drafting romance-novel manuscripts since high school.  Romance fiction is widely laughed at.  It’s also widely read, often in secret, because ‘what will they think?’ rears its head again.

• Is that phrase, ‘what will they think?’ – stopping you from sharing part of yourself with the people who matter to you? 
• Are you letting it stop you from doing something you know you’d love?  
• Are you allowing it to trap you in an unhappy situation? 

When we let go of our fears and live life as ‘the real me’, instead of the 'me' that other people expect - we're giving ourselves the gift of freedom.  

Is there something that you would share anonymously on a piece of installation art in a park, that – if you really went through with it – might open up something magical in your life?

Be real.