I’ve never been a natural at anything.
When I first started rapping, I sounded like everybody except me.
When I first started the podcast, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
When I first started these articles, I had a lot to say but I always felt like I wasn’t saying it.
I HATE being bad at things, but for greatness, being bad at things I must.
With that said, my skill and/or gift does not lie in this or that. My true talent lies in my ability to push past the cringe.
Let’s Go 2 Work.
The word cringe is defined as a) Having an INWARD feeling of acute embarrassment or awkwardness.
I know why you won’t start working on that idea or try that thing you’ve always wanted to do. Along with not wanting to put in the effort, you also don’t want to look and feel foolish. That whole “don’t worry about what people think” is bullshit. As much as people play like they don’t give a fuck, deep down, to some degree, we all care what people think. Although we may not be able to entirely stop caring what people think, we must not allow other people’s thoughts and opinions to stop us from being great.
I know the feeling of looking foolish all too well. My very first rap performance I was booed off of the stage, all in front of a fine ass girl I was trying to get with…cringe. My second performance I forgot my lines…cringe. My third performance, seven people showed up…cringe. But I kept going and on my last performance before I went to the Navy, I received a standing ovation. An elderly lady even gave me $20 and said to me, “I don’t like rap, but that was good.”
When I say push past the cringe, I mean you must push past that initial part where you don’t really know what you’re doing, people are either ignoring you or laughing AT you, and for lack of a better word…you suck. For a while, you have to be okay with only getting five views per post on your YouTube channel and people saying, “That’s all the subscribers you got?” You have to be cool with being the fattest and weakest guy at the gym. You have to be alright with trying and failing over and over all while watching other people win at playing it safe.
But KNOW this,
the cringe is TEMPORARY.
And if you learn to push past it…this can be your talent too.
WALT FACTUAL
