Name names

Do you find yourself creatively blocked because of what other people think? Are you worried about what other people will say about your work? Are you concerned that people’s perception of your brand will deteriorate if you share something that isn’t perfect? 

It’s time to start naming names. 

Many creatives struggle to share their work because they’re worried when they do, a choir haters will start barking. Personally, I imagine a nameless, faceless crowd of critics, judging at my work, looking at me with disdain. This has kept me from sharing so many creative projects. But if I get logical for one second, I know deep down that a vast majority of people who have seen my work either didn’t really care about it, or they liked it and encouraged me. I’ve only encountered one or two genuine haters in my lifetime. 

It’s time to start naming names. 

Maybe not publicly, maybe not on a blog or on social media. Maybe a private journal is better. But we need to stop extrapolating one person’s nasty comments onto everyone. It’s likely that just one person at one point in time betrayed our trust and said something mean. But now we apply that feeling to everyone. We’re afraid to share our work with anyone because at one point in time, one person said something mean. 

It might be time to name names. It might be time to forgive. Forgiveness is not easy, and maybe it’s not deserved. But it will set you free. 

I’ll leave you with a quote from Steven Pressfield that might help explain why that person said something mean about your work that one time. 

“If you find yourself criticizing other people, you’re probably doing it out of resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived our own. Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all the manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well.”