This first year of building your social media machine, putting yourself out there,just being yourself, may be the most uncomfortable and vulnerable year of your life—especially for shy and perfectionist types. (Again, welcome to my world.)

You will be learning social media in a very public way.

You will feel awkward because you will misstep and have imperfect moments.

As professionals, we love feeling polished and competent at our craft. We often won’t even try something if we think we won’t be good at it. I see this all the time. I’ve been teaching dance to adults for twenty-one years and the most highly educated professionals can be the hardest to teach in a group lesson. They spend much of the time thinking they look stupid, they are no good, and that they should just quit. This internal monologue presents as tightness in the body, inability to keep the beat, and complete discomfort. Those who are more relaxed in their lives tend to learn better in a social environment because they seem to go with the flow more naturally.

Striving for a polished, competent, professional front is a great way to create barriers for your own journey as well as in connecting with others. Hiding behind the mask of professionalism may seem easy. People see you up on a pedestal for your amazingness. It feels great to be lauded, but the pedestal is a lonely place. It can become a cage, with increasing expectations of greatness suffocating you. Even worse, if you misstep and fall off that pedestal, it can be socially devastating. So why not start with your feet safely on the ground among the other mortals? Besides, who wants to be perfect, anyway? Perfect people are boring and just make others feel like they are not good enough.

Remember, missteps and imperfect moments get people interested in what you are doing. People enjoy seeing process, evolution, and imperfection. Mostly, they like it because they can’t even imagine themselves doing what you are doing; they would be too scared. When you do it, you become a superhero to others.

So, sit down, strap yourself in, and get ready for the most fun roller coaster ride in your personal and professional evolution!