This is the question that made me realise I wasn’t creating anything, even though I desperately wanted to.
This is the question that made me start this blog.
Anyone can be a creator, including you. The only hurdle is choosing yourself.
It took me years of consuming blogs and years of thinking ‘I could do that too’ to finally give myself permission to do it – it’s so much easier on the ego not to try.
Whether you’re an artist, writer, photographer, musician, film-maker, stylist or blogger, you have to confront the knowledge that people are judging you. You have to confront the fear that your friends and family will tell you you’re not ‘good enough’.
Do you want to be a consumer or a creator?
Consumers don’t have to put themselves out there. Consumers don’t have to open themselves up to criticism.
But then again, consumers never achieve as much as creators. Consumers don’t have the luxury of personal growth.
You have something worth sharing with the world and you’re not doing anyone any favours by holding yourself back.
There is room for you. Don’t wait for someone to tell you you’re worthy of being a creator.
You are worthy. Choose yourself.
What do you think?
So which are you? And which do you want to be?
Don’t forget that comments are always appreciated – I’d LOVE to hear from you!
Sam xx
I think this is an important question to ask ourselves early on in our lives and it’s one that I’ve always struggled with. I once read somewhere that you have to ask yourself in one year if you have anything to show for that year in your life. For many of mine, I didn’t have anything. That was more shameful to me than being criticized for making something.
Being a creator also ties in with your previous post on why we’re broke. We tend to fill our self worth with things when we could fill it with our creations, our own experiences.
Hi Alex,
Thanks so much for your comment! I love that – asking yourself if you have anything to show for that year is a really good (and confronting) way to assess whether you are achieving what you hope to and it’s a really good way to put things back into perspective because a year can slip by so quickly! And it’s so true that it fits into why we’re broke – creating is scary and consuming is often just used as a ‘quick fix’ or a way to distract us from our emotions.
Such a thought-provoking comment – thank you!
Sam xx
I can count myself being both, but more the creator type of girl. I don’t know, but I’ve been following beauty&fashion blogs for so long that I got bored of looking at them … I mean, it’s nice once in a while to see the latest trend here or the best new look there, but it’s only that (although one could argue it’s also art, which would be another post worth discussing about).
Creating something, no matter what, takes time, effort, love, trial and error. It’s so much more then “check, please”.
Okay, rambling over. 😉
Hi Isa,
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I agree that blogs, like anything else, get boring when everyone starts doing the same thing! The blogs I love are the ones that are doing something different to everyone else or adding their own touch to something (and even though I personally really enjoy reading beauty and fashion blogs, I definitely prefer ones that talk about things that go a little bit deeper as well)
Sam xx
I definitely used to be exclusively a consumer. When I started to realize this one day I was ashamed by myself. Everything I did to this point was consuming, and never creating anything although I would count myself as the creative type. I was thinking about what to create for weeks and months and still wasn’t doing anything -because I was scared, because it was too much work, and so on and so forth.
So one day I just did it and started my blog, which now is a way for me to be creative and actually create something.
As Alex said, “you have to ask yourself in one year if you have anything to show off for that year in your life”. I did have lots of things to show off the last few years (successfully ended Uni, found a job, got promoted twice), but none of them was creating something that I really genuinely liked and wanted. So I hope by the end of this year I can say: “I created a blog that I like and that makes me happy and proud. And that blog actually has some readers that like it too!” 🙂
Thanks for this – again – great post and the thought-provoking impulse you gave me 🙂
xx Carolin
Visit my creating space here
Hi Carolin,
Thanks so much for your comment – I LOVE it!!
I had exactly the same experience. I realised that even though I was achieving the same kind of things at uni and at work I wanted to actual create something instead of just following after others. I wanted to do something that was more of an expression of myself.
I’m sure you will be able to say that you created a blog that makes you happy and proud sooner than the end of the year!
Sam xx
I definitely grew up being a creator. But as a creator you can be torn between creating for yourself or creating for the consumer. Creating for the consumer is in every art market unfortunately. From gallery artists, illustrators, artists who work on commission. It is hard for full time artists to truly make what they want at the cost of their personal art growth.
Something to consider! Love this post dearly.
xoxo
caroline
carolinebogush.blogspot.com
Hi Caroline!
You raise such a good point – I didn’t even mention the difference between creating for yourself and creating for the consumer! I think there are a lot of benefits to both: when we create something truly for ourselves we are able to work through emotions, whether happiness, sadness or anything in between, and learn so much more about ourselves. And when we create for the consumer we often hold ourselves to a higher standard than if we are creating for ourselves so we can really improve our skills.
I think the tricky thing is when someone gets so caught up in creating for the consumer and there is a complete disconnect from what they would create for themselves. Such an interesting thing to think about!
Sam xx
I really like this post because I can really relate to it. For years I read tons of blogs and YouTube channels and I was so afraid to join the blogging community and be a creator. I like to create, but why do I have this fear? I think it is my personality. Blogging has created an atmosphere for me to create, share and connect. Excellent post! We all can be creators and blogging allows you to share it with the world!
Hey,
Thanks for sharing your experience! I think some types of personalities are more scared about putting themselves out there but I think almost all personality types have the same insecurities when it comes to being judged by others and wanting to feel like they’re good enough – we all just deal with those emotions in different ways (some shying away from the spotlight and others stepping into it to seek approval). Of course not everyone has these insecurities, but I think a lot of people do!
And I’m so happy blogging has created such an amazing atmosphere for you!!
Sam xx
Being a creator is definitely not easy. I think most of us feel intimidated by putting ourselves out there because we either don’t have time that it may require, or simply not know where to start. Just like you, it took me forever to start a blog. A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to do start a blog – I’m still not exactly sure where it’ll take me but it sure feels great to make a first step!
http://www.zoyaandme.com
Hi Lena,
Thanks so much for your comment and congratulations on taking that first step – the hardest bit is always finding that initial momentum to get going (at least that’s what I’ve found). And thanks for sharing your experience – I definitely feel intimidated about putting myself out there but I’m learning that what people think of me matters a lot less than I seem to tell myself it does (and people judge you anyway so you may as well be judged doing something you love).
Sam xx
I used to only be a consumer since I feel so much pressure from other people to be successful, to actually get something monetary out of what I do. But now that I have restarted blogging, I tend to be more carefree. I live for my own self improvement and not for the opinion of others, so I might as well live it up! 🙂
Jen
http://thecasualwanderer.blogspot.com/
Hi Jen!
Firstly, I’m so happy to hear that creating has made you more carefree and more focused on your own self improvement – that is AMAZING! You also raise such a good point – even though our society ‘honours’ creators it also puts a lot of pressure on us to be consumers (and that is a pressure I definitely feel). I also feel like our society creates the illusion that only certain types of people can be creators, when really everyone can create something in their own way. Thanks for mentioning that!
Thanks so much for your comment!
Sam xx
You hit it right on the mark! It’s easy to sit back and watch others putting themselves out there, passing judgement on how well (or not well) they are doing. It’s completely different when you are branching out yourself. But I will say that’s it’s also really rewarding and liberating! Because at some point, you HAVE to let go of the fear associated with what others will think of you. And losing that burden is such an amazing feeling!
Hi Kelsie,
LOVE your comment!! I’m so happy to hear you’re finding creating so rewarding and liberating!
Losing the burden of fear is something I’m still trying to work on – thank you for the inspiration!
Sam xx
I always thought I would be a creator. Since when I was little, I always love to create things, and I still do.
But these last years I found myself with more responsibilities and sometimes it’s easier to just consume what’s around you. I realized that I wasn’t happy as I was before, so now I’m trying to take sometimes to myself to do just what I love (blogging and photography mostly). Now I feel much better, I also have more energy to do stuff that I can’t say I love to do (like study, ehm-ehm).
I loved this. I can related to this in every way! I do this to myself all the time, hoarding articles and other information and consuming as much as I can in hopes that if I consume enough then I’ll finally be ready to create my own. Finally I realized this and I just said screw it! I finally just started one day and took it one day at a time, and I haven’t looked back since! So thankful I finally pushed myself to create instead of just consuming.
Loved this post! Great job! Xx
Kendra | adjustingtoadulthood.com