In an age where the instinct to broadcast every moment of your life is becoming more and more normalized, it is interesting to see where society divides. There are those who feel life can only be accentuated by the approval of those around them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ll see the few quiet individuals who would prefer to live their life as an unnoticed bystander. Experiencing the world free from the wandering eyes of those passing by. Most of us are found somewhere in the middle, teetering between “pics or it didn’t happen” and “it’s not worth putting out there unless it’s truly worthy of stopping someone’s day for”. I happen to be the latter.
While I maintain my streak of giving social media the pleasure of my existence once every six months or so, I am beginning to understand those a bit more outgoing than myself. Less in the belief that public opinion overrides any personal feelings or accomplishments and more in that releasing your thoughts into the world can help keep you from holding onto them in search of the ever elusive “perfection”. An outlet into the void can give you the freedom to produce whatever it is your being guides you towards without concerning yourself over if it is ready for unprepared eyes. You can put your thoughts and emotions onto whatever canvas you fancy and move onto your next muse as soon as you feel ready.
The way I see it, you are given the permission to make the mistakes you deserve to make at your current skill level, whatever that may be. Anyone who has had any experience in any sort of artistic medium can recognize the feeling of being embarrassed of or even disappointed by your past work. To me, this is a sign that you are allowing yourself to learn from past mistakes or shortcomings. By holding onto semi completed projects, you are depriving yourself of the context required to appreciate your progress and the hindsight to avoid mistakes you’ve fallen prey to in the past. This is where I praise the void where random internet posts/uploads go to live. Allowing yourself a platform to take previous works off of your shoulders gives you the energy to continue growing and creating pieces you can take pride in until you reach the next summit.
It is for these reasons that I praise the void. The nearly unnoticed space where I can freely express whatever it is I feel like getting out of my head. Some of it will be bad. Maybe even most. But through the process of making mistakes and seeing what I’ve made without the tunnel vision the creation process can give you, I am able to grow in my creative endeavors and become a better, more well rounded person.
So for any of the few reading this, even if that’s just me a few months from now, thank you for aiding in my growth. Thank you for giving me the space to info dump my thoughts into some linearish format so I can come back to see exactly how I’ve grown over time. Without this platform you’ve left open for me, I truly don’t know who or where I would be today, I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable putting any of the aforementioned thoughts into a space where they can be scrutinized by anyone with enough free time to care about any of my ramblings.
To any and all who relate in the slightest, put yourself out there. I promise that nobody will care enough to shit on your ideas until you have really found your footwork and know the direction you want to go. Happy travels and make sure you always come home safe
Aidan
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