We deserve to make a living as creators.
This can be one of the hardest things for any creator to come to terms with, let alone embrace.
I often urge people at my talks to say words to this effect and it's always awkward. Some laugh and many shrug it off, including me. We succumb to the insistent whispering of our fears. Success is for the dashing, the most noble and the truly talented, not I.
These whispers cut deep because they are inherently correct. We are all faking it. Each of us is struggling to learn enough at our craft and we are all afraid of being unmasked as the incompetent imposters we know we are.
Except these feelings apply to all creators, from the biggest names and most successful to those just starting out.
Which is why it is so important for us to say these words.
I deserve to make a living at [whatever you create].
You are a creator and you deserve respect, whether you are working in crafts, writing, photography, podcasting, cooking, streaming, woodworking or any medium where you are drawn to express yourself.
I have struggled with this my entire life. And I now recognize that this will always be something for me to work on. Every time I let my guard down, the whispers sucker punch me and I find myself scrambling for external validation, unable to see all that I have managed to build.
And then someone reminds me that we are all going through the same thing.
One of the people to help me with this is the truly insightful and kind David DuChemin and I highly recommend his book,
How to Feed a Starving Artist.
- Sean
