Facing criticism
Some events from the past few days have gotten me thinking.
As creative people putting their work out their for public consumption, actors and writers and musicians and artists and everybody else face criticism from every sector of the globe. Online, offline, in person, in print. Some of us are better at dealing with it than others. Some crumble in the face of any negativity at all. I used to most definitely be one of the latter. My dream was always to be an actress but an overly critical/practical ex-husband convinced me to drop it. I used to say I'd always regret it, but if I had stuck with it, I'm not convinced I'd have the life I have now and I wouldn't trade that for anything. But slowly, I'm learning to let those types of negativity go, so it's easier for me these days to read a bad review or a negative opinion and say, "That's just what they think. It's only one person. I can still do this." But it still might take awhile. And it still hurts.
It's a fine line, because frankly, creative people put themselves out there to be seen. They want to share their creations, and they want people to like them, otherwise those creations would never see the light of day, or the glow of a computer screen. So they juggle on a daily basis. Sometimes they drop the ball. Sometimes it's easy to balance. It makes me wonder how some of the more high-profile artists of the world cope with it. I suppose the attitude, "It's better to not know," is probably one of the best. You don't get the highs but you don't get the lows either.
It just makes me wonder.
As creative people putting their work out their for public consumption, actors and writers and musicians and artists and everybody else face criticism from every sector of the globe. Online, offline, in person, in print. Some of us are better at dealing with it than others. Some crumble in the face of any negativity at all. I used to most definitely be one of the latter. My dream was always to be an actress but an overly critical/practical ex-husband convinced me to drop it. I used to say I'd always regret it, but if I had stuck with it, I'm not convinced I'd have the life I have now and I wouldn't trade that for anything. But slowly, I'm learning to let those types of negativity go, so it's easier for me these days to read a bad review or a negative opinion and say, "That's just what they think. It's only one person. I can still do this." But it still might take awhile. And it still hurts.
It's a fine line, because frankly, creative people put themselves out there to be seen. They want to share their creations, and they want people to like them, otherwise those creations would never see the light of day, or the glow of a computer screen. So they juggle on a daily basis. Sometimes they drop the ball. Sometimes it's easy to balance. It makes me wonder how some of the more high-profile artists of the world cope with it. I suppose the attitude, "It's better to not know," is probably one of the best. You don't get the highs but you don't get the lows either.
It just makes me wonder.