The Ignored Artist (and for good reason)

Happy Sunday to all my readers!

I’m attempting to restructure my time… Can you relate to moments in your life when you realize your priorities are all totally confused? No idea what you do that has value?

I have been working toward simple living and a simple schedule for most of my life. My idea was to create a practical low maintenance life framework, so that I was free to pursue creative endeavors. A couple months ago, I did seem to finally achieve this.

My previous blog post illustrates the fulcrum that finally pulled me there, after realizing I had inadvertently created a totally unfocused and scattered life. In the last few years, I have established a wonderful routine as a dogwalker, and minimized my possessions to a happy place. Almost everything I held onto has value, and I could move all personal possessions to my Jeep within the hour.

This, however, suddenly has dropped me into a bit of a void, Ready, set, empty life! It made me realize how much time and energy ‘clutter’ was taking up, and although it was annoying to have it tugging at me, it distracted me from the realization that I had become depressed. Especially in the face of overwhelming, terrible global news that can paralyze anyone who feels they can’t help…

My creative endeavors have been sabotaged the last few months by my belief that nothing I do has value. I just now realize where this is coming from…

I have spent countless hours and days creating websites to advertise my handcrafted jewelry just to almost never ever make a sell. I have created dozens of videos on YouTube to only rarely get a comment, just to have the comment weirdly deleted seconds after seeing it. I have created links to other links, and placed a link on FaceBook, in hopes that at least my for-real friends would click on my videos, just to discover that it also gets zero views.

But this isn’t the worst part. The worst part is seeing all the subpar work out there that gets thousands of views. A collection of some half-baked rants by a young YouTuber about nothing gets 10,000 subscribers within the year.

Ok, so maybe is this my rant. A realization that social media can bludgeon a person’s creativity. I’m most certainly not the only artist who feels this way. But I have never been creative for the sake of others anyway! I wrote and made things because I felt compelled to do it, not because of encouragement from others. Writers write, crafters craft just because…

I’m imagining that this artificial internet construct has dampened other writers and artist’s spirits too. Before the internet, one could imagine that if their work was not reaching anyone, it was possibly because no one had opportunity to see it, and getting out to a neighborhood vending event would at least provide opportunity for real connection with others. But now, once it’s out there, and people choose to pass you by, you realize where you rate in the mad scramble for attention.

Perhaps it is time to return to community art events, where neighbors have opportunity to see what each other are creating. A garden party allows you to see firsthand the cherry tomatoes next door, that are just amazing but wouldn’t stand out amongst the 100,000 other cherry tomato plants among the more clever YouTubers on the internet. The sculptress who makes just enough unique 3D designs to share with a select few….

It would be great to get to know more of my neighbors and find out what they have been doing, instead of feeling alone and insignificant. Who knows, maybe we will inspire each other to create something new, which would have never been thought of alone!