Insecure and Stuck in My Head

I haven’t written in over a month, despite my last substack generating the most views, new subscribers and positive feedback.

It's not that I don’t have a lot to share. I pretty much have a blog running in my mind nonstop or as my sister once said to me, “um, it's not a blog Dina, it’s called thinking.”

It’s just that. 

I’ve been thinking and stuck in my own head and honestly, feeling insecure about the whole endeavor.

Along with the encouraging feedback and requests for me to, ‘please write more!” and “when will your book be done?” I’ve also had people question why I am writing, and sharing comments like, “isn't what you write too personal?” or “everything you write is pretty generic, maybe use a pseudonym so you can actually write something real?”

All of the comments came from people who care about me and it wasn't criticism. It just made me question, why am I doing this? Should I be doing this? Like I said, totally stuck in my head. 

I’m not sure why I even care. I have nothing to prove to anyone and yet, I find myself paralyzed in a middle place between believing in the transformative power of sharing and wondering when sharing might be too much. 

Or maybe I’m not in the middle at all. Maybe I am just caring too much about what others might think? (gasp)

I actually don’t have any doubts that sharing ourselves is a way for us to grow as individuals, to connect with others and to cultivate a more empathic humankind. Telling our stories is also a way to de-stigmatize, and de-shame, to normalize and to give voice and language to common experiences, relationships and complicated issues that might otherwise be kept in the dark. I love all of it and it's the reason I am a social media content obsessive. Yes, I know all of the current TikTok dances and my feed is full of memes AND I’m also learning from and connecting with a vast community of wildly diverse people and it’s making me a better person. 

So why do I care about the push back, and the mocking of content creators, and the notion that sharing is attention-seeking, or boundary violating? And why has it somehow made it harder for me to write?

I guess my daily practice of un-caring what other people think about me has not healed me from all of my insecurities and I have more work to do. And I’ll do that work here with you, and across my social channels, openly, transparently and in full view.

P.S.

Find me and follow on LinkedIn, IG , Twitter, and FB.

As long as you’re not trying to convince me to stop writing, I’d love to hear your feedback and requests.

Sending gratitude, peace and love.