TLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks more Long textTLDR: Authenticity sucks, but being trendy and fake sucks mor...
I am an organized goal oriented person. I also love and strive to be original in my work, like any creative. But striving implies there's a considerable effort to achieve it. You have to explore unbeaten paths, no map, and no real sense of where you're going, blindfolded.
When I take the blindfold off and look around, maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it’s just okay, or maybe I’ve tripped and landed face-first in the mud. Around this time I crumple that digital paper I was toiling over, groan LOUDLY and say oh man, I SUCK SO BAD I'm such an imposter and be upset for the rest of the week because of how much of a hack I am and suck as a creative.
IF (only if) in my many attempts I stumble upon something I might consider worthy of attention, I have to take that unfinished, raw, naked and vulnerable creative act and show it to the world where I know it will be judged. Harshly obviously! Or at least that's how it seems in my head before I post something on social media.
Not that I ever received any disastrous feedback or anything so far, but no feedback is also bad feedback, and there's something particularly awful in putting your soft creative belly out into society only to get gut punched with indifference.
UGH.
Oooooor, maybe I won't go through all that today, I'm already tired from being anxious about it. I'll go online and choose the beaten path of *trendy*. Pick a trend that kind of fits me, looks good and people seem to appreciate it, nothing wrong with riding that train for a little while until I figure things out, right?
Trends might look like an easy way out, but from my experience, they get stale pretty fast. If everyone is doing the same thing, everyone will get bored of it eventually. The bigger the trend, the sooner it dies. I've suffered creative blocks because I force myself to create things I did not feel a connection to, just obligation. It killed off the fun by thinking I have to be a certain way, post a certain way or choose subjects a certain way. Anything from shading, palettes to button styles. The pressure I put on myself to perform a certain way has stopped me from even starting.
While following trends and being inspired by many amazing artists has helped me improve and become a legitimate creative, postponing the introspective work to find my own voice is not sustainable and will keep me trapped in this loop of burnout.
So, I'm here to do the new scary thing and experiment with authenticity.
I equate the authentic creative act to putting your earphones on and dance in your underwear like nobody is watching, except that everyone will be watching, you know that, look deep in their eyes and turn the volume up. NO pressure! It's super scary but I think it's worth the effort. If it fails, at least I’ll have more courage and a new playlist to dance to.
