This is Maze, the devil’s protector, from the new TV show Lucifer. She’s a demon in the form of a very hot, dangerous woman. She’s stuck in Los Angeles watching Lucifer’s back while he’s on vacation from Hell sorting out some personal issues. At one point Maze takes Lucifer’s brother to a coffee shop called Beelzebeans, and explains why she loves it.

“This is my favorite place in the city. Look at them on their laptops, writing the next great screenplay, torturing themselves with the dreams, they know, deep down, they will never achieve. Reminds me of home.”

Home for Maze is Hell, a place souls go to be tortured. At least here on Earth, tortured souls have a chance at redemption and the ability to achieve their dreams. No, it’s not easy, and there is plenty of struggle in store for those of us who listen to the Muse and pursue our dreams of writing, performing, and being more than we are.

But in Hell there is no Muse. Only Maze, the demon who loves to see the suffering that comes from self-doubt. As long as we mortals listen to the Muse and chase our dreams, we are safe. But in the quiet moments when we are not striving, we are vulnerable. That’s when self-doubt can creep in and whittle away at us.

(Don’t worry, I have permission to steal this graphic from Austin Kleon, who published it in his book, “Steal Like An Artist”. Please send any complaints to him at [email protected])

Self-Doubt. The single most devastating enemy of dreams and ambition. As the Bard himself once said, “Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”
The most successful, prolific playwright of all time, Billy Shakespeare, suffered self-doubt, as does every one of us two-bit hacks who dare to create something from our ideas.

But Self-Doubt doesn’t make us untalented, unfunny, or uninsightful. All it has to do is make us afraid. Afraid to attempt, as Billy said. Afraid to put something out there and find out we’re not as awesome as we dared believe. Afraid to try.

So fear not you Manic Impressives. When your creative mania phase subsides, your ideas will not be less good. They only need survive the night, the Dark Night of the Soul, and emerge in the daylight with a little action behind them. And if you’ve done your work and have some free time around 9pm Mondays, check out Lucifer on Fox.

It’s wicked good fun…