I’ve always loved to write, but told myself I could never be an actual writer. My grammar knowledge isn’t up to par, I’m too direct, I have no flourish or nuance, & I’m bad at it. Now, no one ever told me this, but I felt like everyone saw it and if I wrote something this army of people would come out of the woodwork and burn me at the stake. So I’d beat myself up, tell myself I’m not good enough, and put myself on trial to be sacrificed because “they” won’t accept me. “They” will ridicule me. “They” will laugh at me and see me as a failure
But there is no they, it’s just me.
There is no angry mob, there are no “haters.” You hold the flame, and you can use it to burn yourself or as fuel to light the way forward.