“Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

There is a moment in each writer’s life – and every artist – where they must let go of what they know, take a risk and follow their heart.

It’s in this empty space of transition where you as the artist must let go of that place of certainty and enter the unknown.

Doubt and fear battle against an inner knowing that you must take this radical leap of faith.

This is exactly where I’ve been at lately. I’ve known I really needed to go all in with my goals, but I’ve been dabbling. I know, it sounds horrible, but it’s true. When I really think about the reason I’ve held back, it came to me. I had not truly decided that no matter the risk, I’m going to go after what I’m passionate about.

I realized I hadn’t gone all in with my dream. I drew a line in the sand and chose to throw my heart over the bar.[Tweet this]

When you face the unknown you must find enough courage and passion for your work that you are willing to throw their heart into it.

How One Man Learned to find “heart”

Bob Mathias, was encouraged by his high school coach to try a decathlon – a combination of 10 track and field events – after he watched Mathias develop into a talented track athlete.

Bob Mathias won his first competition there and just a few months later he qualified to compete in the 1948 London Olympics. He talks about his journey in his book A Twentieth Century Odyssey: The Bob Mathias Story.

He was a nobody going into the Olympics at the young age of seventeen. But when it was finished, Mathias had become the youngest gold medalist – with four golds – to ever win a track and field event.

Later, after he began coaching a young pole vaulter who was struggling to reach a new height on the crossbar, Matthias had these words to say to the discouraged man:

“Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.” Bob Mathias [Tweet this]

The Courage to Go All In

If you as a writer – or an artist or any kind – want to go all in with your work, you must take your heart seriously. You must listen to its pains and you must bring to it happiness.

If you are to take heart and encourage yourself as a writer, I’ve learned, that you must first find your heart.

Your truth lies in what you love, and as you remind yourself that you have loved and do love, you will find your way back to the place where you will create your best work.

When you throw your heart over the bar, you are choosing to have the courage to commit. You’ve decided to go all in.

Here’s the thing: when you’re discouraged, you are separated from your heart. You feel confused and sometimes paralyzed with no will to move on. You must find your place of courage again.

If the feeling of defeat has crippled you, many times you feel like you are frozen in place. You feel like the muse will never come again. That your creative dreams have vanished into thin air.

Many times what we forget, is how large our hearts really are and how daring. When you trust your heart, you trust yourself.

So go through your moment of uncertainty. Face that time of doubt. Step into that empty space of the unknown.

I think you’ll find like I did, that’s where you really grow. It’s this transition place where you develop self-confidence. The empty space is where you really come alive.

Be willing to let go. Slide into uncertain air and throw your heart over the bar.

Is there something you’re creating where you need to choose to go ‘all in’? I’d love to hear your story in the comments.