Let Your Freak Flag Fly
This Week's Challenge Invites You To Fly That Flag High - Plus a Giveaway Announcement!
“My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings.”
- Kahlil Gibran
“I was the least popular kid in eighth grade.”
“Absolutely not. I was. Maybe you were second least popular.”
We were sitting at a table in front of a packed coffee shop on a busy section of DUMBO … you know, the one with that famous stretch of cobblestone street that runs and dies into the spectacular Manhattan Bridge.
We hadn’t seen each other for more than 20 years, and this late September Sunday morning seemed like a perfect time to avoid the social media vortex and actually catch up in person.
We sometimes casually say that someone is “leading their best life.” Usually, that description is pure crap. It’s thin. One dimensional. But sitting together, sharing coffee amid the happy tumult of the DUMBO families and selfie-takers, it seemed pretty damn appropriate: My former main rival for “least popular” is now living in Brooklyn, running a well-known and thriving business that he created, happily married, raising a pre-teen, summer-camp-loving daughter with his partner.
We talked about the struggles we had, and the secrets we kept (his was his sexual orientation, mine crippling anxiety). All in the name of somehow staying on the bottom rungs of the ladder and hoping not to fall off completely.
And it got me thinking about the secrets we keep.
And why we keep them.
Even now.
And what happens when we start to let them see the sunlight?
In 1918, the Lebanese-American artist, poet, and philosopher Kahlil Gibran published a collection of poems titled The Madman which is a wellspring of wisdom. In it, Gibran meditates on the interplay between our “seeming selves” and our “being selves”:
“My friend, I am not what I seem.”
Only five decades after Gibran’s admission, another artist - a young, acid-drenched musician - would step to the mic and sing a very different tune:
“They're hoping soon, my kind will drop and die / But I'm going to wave / My freak flag high, high ow!” - Jimi Hendrix / If 6 Was 9
Inside of you, you have things that you don’t share. Things that bring you alive. Things that fulfill you. Make you laugh, dance, sing, and love.
Passions, desires, interests, orientations, loves, drives.
Why do we keep them locked up? What fears do we have about what they say about us? What our co-workers, bosses, significant others, and those people who inhabit our social media feeds will think?
This is your week to let them out into the world.
Your Scare Your Soul challenge for this week is to:
Let Your Freak Flag Fly!
What does that mean? It means sharing parts of you that you think, “if people knew that, they would think I was a freak.”
It means sharing – in some way nerve-wracking and exciting – some part of yourself that others haven’t seen. Maybe you’ll choose to share with a friend or a loved one. Or wear something outrageous. Post about your secret obsession that no one would believe.
Why should you do this, you ask?
Because it is going to set you free. It is going to unlock something for you.
And it is going to inspire people just like you and me to do the same thing.
Going Deeper
Five reasons why you should share your gifts with the world
The hard part of having a secret is not that you have to hide it, but that you have to live with it
Freak Flag in Shrek the Musical
Win a Copy of ‘Scare Your Soul’ on Goodreads this October!
Add Scare Your Soul: 7 Powerful Principles to Harness Fear and Lead Your Most Courageous Life on Goodreads to be notified of our upcoming book giveaway, happening October 3rd through the 30th!
Dive deeper into the world of Scare Your Soul and learn the whys and how behind this courage movement, through research on positive psychology and real-life stories of Scare Your Soul participants. This interactive roadmap will help you to build bravery through writing prompts, activities, and real-world challenges.
The highly anticipated book by SYS founder Scott Simon will be released on December 6th, 2022 - but you can pre-order your copy today. Strengthen your courage muscle and go deeper into your Scare Your Soul journey.
Fear Tells Us What We Have to Do
“I almost puked on Madison Avenue.
It is one hour before I have to arrive at the studios of Hachette Audio (one of the greatest audiobook companies in the world). It is my first day recording the audiobook version of the Scare Your Soul book. As I threaded the morning Midtown crowds on my way to get a tea, I could barely function.
I had fought hard to be able to do this.
I even had to send in an audition tape.
This is scary. And I want this…”
Sharing your Success
How do you feel after revealing a new part of yourself to friends or family? What did you learn? How do you feel like it impacted the people and relationships around you?
Hit that “reply” button and let us know!