What do I do?
Whatever I want. And so do you. It's not easy but it's not hard either.
There's no such thing as a shit post anymore.
Deal?
I've been posting a few shorts lately. A lot of you post shorts. Quick reads or posts based more on the imagery contained within like art or photographs.
It takes skill to say more, by saying less. That's not being lazy.
All art and photographs take time to produce and process. A lot of time. My previous post for instance. About sixty words, a short message; simple read. The art, from start to finish, took a little less than eight hours to produce. Mind you, I wasn't in much of a hurry.
For a lot of us, what doesn't appear to be much once published, is actually a metric shit-ton worth of effort; and even a short post could lead to many more hours of time spent in the comment section as well.
Why am I reminding everyone of this?
Hard times.
It's no secret.
Some people are doing a fine job of carrying on, business as usual. That's really good to see. There are also plenty of distractions out there, many unanswered questions, a lot of confusion, and some drama. I know, for me, personally, I need to be very careful where I step. I'm one to get, involved.
I don't want to be, involved.
It's hard for me though!
Holy crap!
Instead of working on my next hit post that won't trend, I find myself buried deep in discussion about things that, no matter what I say or to who, nothing will ever come out of it. No changes. We're just people; people exchanging our opinions. Opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. Sometimes I become an asshole when I share my opinion. That part sucks. (LOL)
I've been through harder times than this.
I don't want to see those of you who haven't experienced the lulls here to become discouraged.
One of the easiest ways to get through these bumps is to simply relax.
Ease in, produce something simple, share it. There's no such thing as a shit post. Don't worry about the money. You got this far in life without the added rewards you get from this place. Hold on to it, have fun in the meantime.
If you see some of your peers suddenly switching gears — you've known them to produce interesting stuff, suddenly all they can seem to do is talk about issues with the platform — try to get them back on track. Take them aside, tell them not to worry, remind them that it's not selfish to focus on themselves and their own well-being.
I've witnessed hundreds of people go from interesting content producer to doesn't shut up about the problems they see. Eventually, they vanish. No more interesting content. They drowned in their sorrows. It's hard to bounce back from that, especially when they get to the burning the bridges phase. Again, if you see signs of someone being consumed by these platform demons, try to step in and help them before it's too late.
People have been saying this place is going to die...
For two years.
They've been wrong, for two years.
I've seen it all; I've heard it all. Same sad song, different singer. That radio station sucks.
Sure, I have a few grievances. So what, and I have to remind myself of so what. I have to listen to that voice in my head; the voice that doesn't like things. It's annoying. I annoy myself. I've always been one to air my grievances but at the same time, I do bite my tongue as well. I've gone off the deep end a few times but I know how to swim. I can see myself drowning before my head goes under the water, so I'm careful, and usually come out of it on top.
It's so easy to let those platform demons in. It's hard to shake them if you haven't been around long enough to build up a tolerance.
It's also easy to relax, get back to doing your thing instead of making another's problems your own. Share a few shit posts now knowing they're not shit. It's been quiet out there, but we gotta start somewhere.
No pressure.
Here's a picture of a cat:
Have a nice day.
