Dear Discouraged Creatives, Don’t Stop Now!
An Encouraging Guest post by Jaiden Phillips
Dear Discouraged Creatives, Don't Stop Now!
*Echo by Livingston starts playing*
What am I doing?
Why is nothing good enough?
Why is this so hard?
I've done everything right…
These are the kind of thoughts that go through our heads at night. It's hard being a creative, I know, I've been drawing and writing for over three years now, I've published multiple books with my sisters and even one of my own, I have an art blog, and an art store…yet, sometimes it feels like I'm invisible. I know I'm not alone, us discouraged artists are many, and we're one in an ocean of millions. Millions of real artists and AI generators.
Is it me?
Is a question that haunts us, sometimes it feels like we just try, and try, and give, and give, yet no one cares. Art is our passion, the thing that makes us feel alive, we draw and write and play music and whatever other art passions we have, we do it with everything we have and want to share it with the world. Yet we still are just one in a million, it feels like it's a never ending battle. Like we're never good enough, maybe you're not that popular on social media, maybe your blog only has like twelve followers, maybe your book only has fourteen reviews, maybe you've only been hired to draw one character, maybe you don't have many saves on your songs… ect.
I feel discouraged a lot, but then I get that one review or blog comment that makes it all worthwhile, that makes me remember why I love drawing and writing so much (besides getting to go on amazing adventures), I write/draw not for popularity but to make other people happy! To make them smile, or help them through a rough patch with my simple words and lines.
I don't have many followers, or customers, or book reviews but but ones I do have are all worth while, because when I read that one comment or that one review from that one person that I touched it makes me so happy to know that it as able to make someone else happy or that I was somehow able to help them. It reminds me why I truly create, why I love to create. To bring joy to that one person who needed it on that one rough day or week. That my art didn't find hundreds who simply enjoyed it but that out of everyone in the whole world it found that one person who truly needed to see/read it!
So dear discouraged artists,
…just remember why you do what you do. Think of that one person. Just keep on creating because someone out there needs your art, someone out there is waiting on your art!! Don't let them down, pick up your pencil (or whatever other creative tool you have) and keep creating, not for fame, but for that one person and for your Heavenly Father!!
I draw/write to get the things swirling in my mind and heart out. To turn my experiences and emotions into something beautiful, that maybe someone else will enjoy seeing/reading it as much as I did creating it. That someone will be able to escape to a fantastical world, go on a wild adventure, or find joy in the colors, just like I do. When I write I get to see and do things I can never do and when I draw its like I'm in a different world altogether, no thoughts just an overwhelming joy.
Don't keep that feeling to yourself, don't lock it away. Share it, let out, let it shine, even if it is just for that one person! They need it just as much as you, don't leave them in the dark, share your light!
I'm ready to pick up my pencil and fight this fight, for that yet unknown fan and for my biggest fan of all, Jesus!
Are you?
