More on Grants

One of the main reasons people don't get grants...they don't apply. Now, why wouldn't they? Fears get in the way. Fears of rejection, not being good enough, the feeling that we have to justify what we are doing makes us mad, possibly fear of success...if we get a grant our level of excellence is raised! I often hear people say "they are never looking for what I do...or...I'm not enough of a minority, they will never accept my application..." hmmmm. Much of this, I think, is a fear of speaking one's own truth. A fear that who you are as an individual will somehow go unvalidated or even chastised. Pretty human.

I've been told that if I don't get a grant the first time to keep applying. They just might be keeping an eye out for me!

Friday my 10 year old son and I drove down to the Bush Fellowship office in St. Paul to deliver the work he had seen me pondering over for the last week or so. We had a lot of fun. What did I teach him at age ten? That writing grants is fun and not at all scary. That the process itself has lessons and the outcome, while variable never takes away from the lessons of the process.

There are other grants sitting on my desk now. One other main reason that folks may not apply for things is that it really does take some time to write them. Yet again, time spent pondering my work is time well invested!

So to you, dear readers, I would say: If there is something you want to go for and are being held back by fears or apparent lack of time, just dig in and go for it!

Yours,
Kari