Putting it out there
The best compliment I’ve ever received in my life came during my musician days. I would make all the music videos for my band and would invite my friends to be in them. They took months to make. Writing and storyboarding, set design, filming, cast coordination, costumes, audio, lighting, editing, and so so much more. This was before A.I. and apps and all the bullshit that is currently killing art and the artist. Just an iphone and some lamps and cheap fabric, some good buddies and a vision. You can imagine the outcome was very “student film” to say the least but I was so proud of them (you can see them on my youtube channel). And when they were done, 10’s of people watched. They usually had a snarky remark about the quality or the concept and they were always sure to tell me what I should have done differently. People love to belittle and degrade. They want to bring you down for some reason even though most are unqualified to do so. You start to ask yourself why making these videos even feels important in the first place.
Then I actually received a compliment for a change. I had a friend star in one of the videos and shortly after wrapping up, he said something to me that I have said to myself daily for the last 10 years. “Ryan, you are a fearless creator.” Suddenly it all made sense. And it has continued to make sense since that moment (thank you, Paul).
Put your work out into the world whether it is comedy, music, visual arts, theater, or whatever fires you up. Getting it out there is the ONLY part that will ever matter. If you fear criticism, your work is no longer yours. A percentage of it will be tainted by the zeitgeist of pop culture and your end result will be a generic grey turd to be flushed into the sewer of mediocrity.
To create without fear sounds hard but I can assure you it’s the exact opposite. The art is already inside you. It’s millions of years of evolution allowing you to flow and beautify and orchestrate. It comes so naturally if you just let it out of its cage without rules. Look at it like putting a message in a bottle. Send it out to sea without care of who finds it. Maybe someone out there needs that message more than air. Not only that, but there are endless messages and infinite bottles for you to play with. Let them find the right people. Put it out there.