Experimenting with Fears
Through the process of assembling ourselves to smear our brains on the blog, we’ve shared a few things about ourselves so that you (readers) can get a little bit of context to understand who we (writers) are and why we’re saying things the way we’re saying them.
As is often the case when we share information about ourselves, fears bubble to the surface (though, are our fears ever really that far from the surface?), and we cannot help but let them pop and splash upon our audience, in hopes of creating some level of sympathy/empathy at the very least. Maybe we’ll have our fears (ex: snakes in the toilet) echoed back to us, and maybe we’ll further hear how our comrades have conquered said fear (ex: choking on boba), flashing a light at the potential end of our fear tunnel.
But of course, it is scary to share our fears! What if our audience thinks less of us and then doubts our professional skills and general ability to exist? What if we get teased? What if, by sharing, we are giving the listener the perfect opportunity to scare us? As an experiment, I prodded the team for their “irrational” fears, first checking for depth of vulnerability and then gauging supportive responses. Among the confessions (including but not limited to: cicadas, monkeys, pelicans, sharks in pools, “stepping in a hole and there’s a snake in it and it bites you and you die”), what stood out was a shared fear of statues. More specifically, anthropomorphic statues and the fact that “they will murder me once my back is turned.” This expanded into a fear of museums (classic gathering place for homicidal sculptures), and then specifically wax museums (where it would not be outside of reason to find a life-size likeness of an actual killer).
While no one’s fears were eliminated in this conversation, a stronger community of shared vulnerability was formed.This same experience is reflected in the WOTW team/client dynamic. Clients come to us with their dreams, which often have a few nightmares (fears) tagging along. At WOTW, part of our process includes hearing those fears, showing that we understand them — maybe even share them — and helping to conquer them throughout the journey to a juicy new website. It’s okay to be scared. Just know we’re here to turn that AAH! into an AHA!
