You’ve been there, haven’t you?  

You’ve had a thought, or an idea…  And, the more you thought about it, the more excited you grew with each passing day.  Your steps became a little bit lighter. 

You walked around with a goofy smile on your face — a smile that sometimes worried your family. 

Fast forward, and now it’s decision time.  Time to put your idea “out there.”

At this point, a huge *Caution!?!* indicator starts flashing, drowning out your confident, positive thoughts.  Your head and your heart are moving away from each other, rather than working in unison.  You’re left wondering if maybe your idea wasn’t so great after all…

“What if they don’t like it?”

“What if they ridicule it?”

“What if they laugh at my idea?”

Chances are, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Many of us go through a similar thought process.  (As I was writing the last post for the blog here, I felt those same doubts and fears kick in.) 

Here’s another example…  I recently had an idea for wrapping my soaps (a new hobby of mine).  I hadn’t seen my idea done before and wondered if the “pros” might scoff at my idea.  I posted it on the soapers forum anyway.  One kind soaper called it a ‘novel’ idea.  They didn’t laugh, or tell me how silly my idea was (at least not to my face, lol).

Sure, some will laugh.  The more you put yourself and your ideas out there, the greater the likelihood of receiving a not-so-nice comment.  But the alternative is to keep those beautiful ideas of yours hidden safely in the closet — never to see the light of day.

So, let ‘em laugh.  Because for any one person that may laugh, another ten awesome cheerleaders will step forward and pat you on the back with a reassuring, “Jeez.  I wish I’d thought of that!”  Or, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Another will step forward with a quiet, “You know, I thought of something like that a while back.  But I never pursued it.”

So, the next time you think of a neat idea, just remember those who wish they’d thought of that.  It’ll give you the courage to bring your idea — or your dream — out of the dark and into the daylight.

Yes, now and then, someone may laugh.  

Will it matter?  Not unless you allow it to.

Can you think of an example where you ”held back” because someone might have laughed at your idea?