And you can too!
If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon -Kathrine Switzer.
I am a runner first. Then only a writer.
When running for a cause, we don’t leave anyone behind. We always run to the finish line even when we know someone has already reached it.
I want to approach Coffee Challenge 3 the same way.
The hard part of this challenge is getting 100 likes for the contest article. I bet Winston knew this was coming when he set it as a criterion to progress to the next phase [insert evil smile from Winston].
A couple of days back, I had only 36 likes for my contest article. That is, after trying everything I could.
Every like took forever to get.
I honestly thought my story would max out at 50 likes.
I dreaded abandoning the challenge mid-way.
I am NOT a quitter. And I don’t fear failure. I kept repeating them to myself in a loop.
I don’t even fear the unknown. So, what’s the name of this feeling trying to eat me? What am I trying to avoid? I pondered. For all I knew, it was a familiar emotion.
After dissecting the thoughts in my mind, I figured:
It was the grand feeling of not being enough for those who may read my story. And its byproduct: The Fear of SHAME.
This realization freed me from lingering self-doubts and insecurities.
I decided to show up to the battle. Only this time, I knew the weakness of my enemy: the ugly face of shame [wicked smile 😈]
Somewhere in the middle of the challenge, the actual game has begun!
Everything is possible for believers
The idea of self-marketing made me feel uncomfortable. Because this would mean reaching out to my friends, extended family, co-workers, and acquaintances who had no clue that I have a secret writer life. So, I saved this strategy for doomsday.
First, I posted my story on LinkedIn and prayed nobody read it. I got 2 likes on the story and a comment from a dear friend who lives in a faraway land.
Not bad at all! [2>0?!]
I reached out to my friends on Medium through my promotional article.
Kristina God, my boot camper coach, was very kind to write an article for me. The best thing about Kristina is that she is always waiting for an opportunity to lend her helping hand!
Here is her article about me:
I reached out to my creative friend Adelina Vasile who brainstormed some beautiful ideas over email and Twitter. She told me to stay active, comment, and endorse others’ work on Substack, and they may reciprocate. This was GOLD!
I read a similar strategy from Substack about how sending cold emails worked to get more subscribers for their newsletters. So I told myself, why not?!
I searched for Substack newsletters with the same niche as mine: Magicbytes. Reached out to them one by one in my comments to their story. I invited them to check out mine.
To my surprise, the responses from the Substack community were great! I was able to make some real connections.
I still had halfway to go. So I dived in headfirst to reach out to extended families, friends, friends of friends, and co-workers.
What happened after that was nothing short of amazing. I received texts with loads of encouragement and support! Too much to blast my gratitude journal and keep me writing for the rest of my life! 🤩
I felt like a brand new person! Being recognized and appreciated by people wanted me to do more! I realized I had a lovely support network, I never noticed.
My fear of shame was washed away by multitudes of praise!
I wrote this article inspired by Marilyn Flower’s story where she points out that “If Tamil can, I can.” And I thought, why not share my experience?!!
Marilyn Flower: YOU GLOW GIRL!!
Being an advocate for magic, I want to vouch for Ida Johannesen’s article to be part of her magical 100 likes.
Tagging all my fellow participants Karen Schwartz, Zaha Hyatt, Kathy K, Ida Johannesen, Marilyn Flower, Drashti Shroff, Sharing Randomly, Ellie Jacobson, Libby Walkup, T Mann, Ashley Nicole Vaughn, Rhea Anglesey, Robert Shaneyfelt, Kathryn Eriksen, Yan Huang, Rosa de Saron C., Jean Elizabeth Glass.
And the lovely editors of coffee times: Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Vincent Van Patten, Yana Bostongirl, Drashti Shroff, Marrisa W., Dr. Preeti Singh.
Let’s run to the finish line together!
It is not wanting to win that makes you a winner; It is refusing to fail -Unknown.
© Tamil, 2022
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