I'm cringing hard as I submit this post. As an introvert, sharing one's inner battles with the public is almost as hard as facing death. If not harder ;) But it's time to step out of the comfort zone.
As human beings, we are naturally wired to seek immediate gratifications over long term benefits. It's even more harder for a creative. One who is constantly engaged in the War of Art.
It's so easy to read the early toiling of successful creative people like Steven Pressfield and J.K Rowling. Those who scrapped through shitty jobs just to ship things that matter and say "meh. These guys are so awesome. I can't do that"
But every day,
we all face an inner battle to either take the easy way out or dig deep and create stuffs that matter. And embrace our fears.
So here's my public confession:
When I joined Steemit a few days ago, I was amazed at this awesome community and
I decided right from the first post to have fun. That I won't bother about "hoarding my votes or replies". I see a great advice....I upvote. I think about something fascinating......I post. And I've met many amazing people on Steemit than on other social networks.....
But as the hours rolled by, and after seeing several memes and funny anecdotes get more votes than posts I put so much hours into, the inner battle began.
I started having doubts about my approach. I scoured Reddit's all-time meme posts (especially about crypto-currencies) looking for funny memes that were going to earn me the big bucks.
But I failed woefully.
I realized my writing suffered from that pressure...I couldn't express myself freely and my creativity waned.
The more I try to spend hours on stuffs that I wasn't passionate about, the more my chest got constricted. And after several futile attempts, I decided I was gonna stick to my earlier resolution:
To create and support stuffs that matter. In my own little way.
And here is a public reminder.
P.S This is not to criticize any post(In fact, I'm still on the search for hilarious memes ;) ). This is a reminder to myself to win the War of Art.
I'm sure many writers (especially newbies) can relate to the inner struggle. There are so many thoughts and worries running through our minds that we get overwhelmed at times.
On a lighter note, if and when I get a tangible payout ;), I'm getting a laptop power bank. One like this.
Electricity supply is erratic where I live and I need to join my esteemed Steemit Addicts - those who spend lots of hours supporting this wonderful community.
It's been an amazing experience so far and I've never felt this excited over a project.
Let's go make a dent in the world.