Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.
Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker
The fact is – for any number of reasons that are often beyond our control – people don’t always see us in the same way we see ourselves.
While it’s natural to care about how you are perceived, it is an exercise in futility to try to explain yourself or justify your actions to everyone who doesn’t get you. Not only is this often a waste of time, it will likely make you seem insecure on top of everything else.
People will often draw conclusions about others based on what they imagine or guess to be true rather than what actually is. They may even presume to know what motivates a person or declare with confidence that they know why that person took a specific course of action. When, in fact, these conclusions can paint a picture that doesn’t at all reflect reality. And that’s OK.
It is perfectly acceptable to ignore the fact that other people have the wrong impression of you. Because, with few exceptions, what other people think about you will have absolutely no impact on your life unless you choose to let it.
When you truly know who you are, it won’t matter so much that other people don’t. What matters is focusing on who you want to be and what you wish to accomplish with your life regardless of those who don’t get you, what you’re doing, or what you wish to do.
If someone who doesn’t know you has an inaccurate perception of who you are, it is not your job to correct them.
In some situations, explaining yourself may be helpful, but the occasions when people who could not care less about you make misinformed, misguided, or snap judgements about you are rarely those times.
At one time or another almost every creator experiences releasing something they’re excited about only to be met with little to no response. This can be demoralizing until you realize it’s normal. And you don’t have to explain it, make excuses for it, or feel bad about it.
Not everything will get the attention you think it deserves. That’s life just keep pushing forward.
If people want to appreciate you for something you’ve created – even if you see flaws in it – let them. It is entirely OK to be appreciated & recognized for the things you create even if you’re better now than you were when you created them.
Don’t disparage your work just because you can see flaws in it. If it’s obvious to you what you could have done better, that’s proof you’ve grown. And that’s something to be proud of. And if you created something that people admire, that’s something to be proud of, too.
Don’t deny yourself the recognition for previous accomplishments just because you’ve improved in the time since you accomplished them.
