Art and Goats
Art?
Here we go I’m gonna start typing and see if I can pull a point out of the stuff swirling in my mind. Art. I used to have such a limited view as to what art was. I thought I’d never be an artist because I sucked at and had no interest in, drawing, painting, or sculpting. Now, I think just about every form of self expression is art from cooking to crafting to stripping to TikToking etc.. I think what makes it art is how you uniquely do your thing, whatever that may be. I think there is art to be found in all lines of work. It just depends on if that person is willing to take pride in their work and make it their own.
Art doesn’t need to be for an audience, and it shouldn’t seek approval from anybody. But, it’s the approval that could get you paid, so there’s a dilemma.
Putting art on display is frightening. Subjecting yourself to criticism on purpose is risky, especially with all the trolls out there ready to point out your flaws. One needs to be able to filter the healthy criticism vs. the toxic criticism.
30 Days of Art
Yes, writing is art. Thirty days of writing is a challenge. One that I put myself up to in order to push my boundaries and explore my thoughts. This was my goal for the challenge, but the other day something tweaked in my brain.
A few days ago, fellow 30 day writing crew member Roberto Johnson was published on a page with 575k followers! Huge for the team. Shane Elias-Calles and I are super stoked for him and started scheming up on how we could possibly achieve the same thing, but then I got scared…
Writing for a publication would mean deadlines, critics, and I’d probably have to do more in depth research. These thoughts instantly overwhelmed me and made my fingers lock up. I immediately started judging every thought I had. Instead of finger flowing, I was going straight Judge Judy. Not a great feeling.
After sitting at Starbucks backspacing for a couple hours, I let it go. Audience or no audience, let thy fingers, body, mind, voice flow without judgement and perhaps that is how an audience will be formed.
Free flow is what art is all about. Free flow only happens when Judge Judy ain’t lingering around your brain to stop your train of thought, your art. Everybody’s free flow manifests itself in varying manners, which keeps this world interesting.
Just Remember This
My roommates and I had this license plate up in our place so we’d see it coming down the stairs every day as a reminder of a simple fact. I’m a GOAT. Greatest of All Time. Notice, you might not be the goat, but you are “a” goat, just like everybody next to you. You’re the only you, so you’re bound to be the greatest YOU of all time! (License plate belonged to my dad. GOAT is a nickname for GTOs)
All you have in this world is you. Your brain. Your perspective. That’s all you can offer to the world and that’s all the world wants from you. The world doesn’t need another copycat and will not reward a liar long term. So however you express yourself, do it and don’t hold back. If it doesn’t feel good, tweak it. If society isn’t rewarding it, then you probably haven’t found your audience, which is fine it could take time. I have no idea what I’m doing. But writing free flow feels natural and fun, so I’m going to keep doing it. Ya I might make a few trips down the rabbit hole here and there though..
Also remember — The audience is only scary if you let them be:)
Ciao!
