When You Feel Like You Have Nothing Special to Offer the World

One of my earliest obstacles was my belief that I didn’t have anything to offer the world.

I wanted to express myself.

To share my truth.

To follow my heart.

But I thought I wasn’t good enough, and that held me back for years.

I’ve also received emails from readers on how they feel like they have nothing to offer.

Perhaps you’ve felt that way, too?

You feel like you have something to share, but you stop yourself.

You wonder: Isn’t this obvious? Doesn’t everyone already know this? Why would someone pay me for what I know?

But What If You Could?

What makes you believe that the stories your mind spins are real?

Looking back, I can see how I held myself back. When I took action anyway, I didn’t magically eliminate my fears.

I simply started.

At first, my mental dialogue intensified. I thought: “I can’t do this. I’m not good enough. I won’t succeed.”

Gradually it changed to: “Maybe I’ll fail. Maybe I’m not good enough. I don’t know. I’m going to try and see what happens.”

Don’t Run Away from Feelings

When we go into stories of not being good enough, we distract from the feeling in the body.

We don’t want to stop and feel. The safe option is to think “Oh, I’m not good enough to do this. Why would anyone care about what I have to say?”

Let these stories of not being good enough be an alarm bell for feeling. When it happens next time, ask yourself: What feeling am I avoiding right now?

Start to inhabit your body, and your feelings, instead of running away.

At first it will be uncomfortable, but it gets easier.

Three Common Obstacles

At the core, all our fears are the same thing. They are thoughts that we believe in.

A thought holds no inherent power. It plugs into us, just like the machines plugged into the humans in The Matrix.

Just realizing this doesn’t inoculate me from my thoughts. But it gives me added perspective. It gives me space to breathe.

Now let’s have a look at the three obstacles:

1. “I can’t compete with the millions of experts out there.”

When I started Wake Up Cloud in 2009, I was 23, and I wrote about personal development.

If anyone was a non-expert, it was me. What could a 23-year-old have to offer?

That thought held me back for years until I finally decided to start anyway.

Wake Up Cloud didn’t start as a way to make money, but a way to share what I was going through, so I decided to start and see what would happen.

And people were interested. Thousands of them, in fact. I don’t know how many visitors Wake Up Cloud has had over the years, but it has to be in the millions.

Now, even though I say this, you may hear a voice inside that says “Yes, but…”

Instead of going into that story, feel what’s in your body. There’s something there that you’re avoiding. Shame, fear, guilt, sadness, anger, abandonment, worthlessness, or something else.

Whatever it is, notice the label that tries to know what the feeling is. Let it go. Feel the sensations. Just feel the energy that is there.

2. “Doesn’t everyone already know this?”

Here’s the thing: When you know something, it’s familiar to you, and when something is familiar, it can feel mundane.

One of the definitions of mundane is: lacking interest or excitement; dull.

Even to this day, I have moments where what I write feels dull and unexciting. And I wonder why anyone would care.

The only way to challenge this thought is to move forward anyway. Instead of backing down when the thought appears, respond: “That may or may not be true. Let’s move forward and see what happens.”

Some of my most popular articles are ones I thought weren’t worth writing. That just goes to show you that my thoughts have no clue what’s going on.

The more you challenge your thoughts, the more you see that thoughts have no authority.

3. “Why would anyone pay me for what I know?”

I don’t know.

Notice that this thought assumes that it has the power to predict the future.

Thoughts don’t know what will happen. No one knows what’s going on. Not you. Not me. Not the smartest person in the world.

As human beings, we don’t want to face this. We create elaborate systems, strategies, and ideas to avoid this truth.

Yet it simply comes down to: We don’t know.

And since you don’t know, why not follow your heart? Follow what makes you come alive and see what happens.

Remember to check in with your feelings. These self-defeating thoughts are trying to distract from something. What is it? Can you feel it anyway?

So Do You Have Something Special to Offer?

The problem isn’t that you don’t have anything special to offer.

The problem is that you think you need something, other than what you have, in order to start. All you ever need is what you have. Start with what you have, where you are. That’s all you can do.

Stop waiting. Start feeling. Start experimenting.

As you keep putting in the work, you will improve, gain clarity, and uncover what works for you.

Takeaway

Don’t put limitations on what you feel called to do.

Don’t try to be successful. Don’t try to do well. Don’t try to get approval. Can you let all of that go, just for a minute, and just take one step?

Can you let that be enough?

If not, a thought will emerge, but don’t be fooled. Instead, feel what it is trying to distract from.

Come back to this moment.

Let life live through you, move you, and let it be an adventure.

All the best,
Henri

P.S. If you still feel like you’re held back from doing what you love, I invite you to check out my book: Do What You Love. (Amazon affiliate link that supports me with no extra cost to you. Thank you.)