I’ve come to realize my strongest blog posts are when I’m open and honest about myself. When I open my front door and let people wander around the mess inside my head, people seem to respond well. It seems a bit counter-intuitive.
I tell people I feel inadequate. They applaud me. I tell people I have a hard time setting appropriate boundaries. They gain more respect for me. It seems like people would think I’m a loser with low self-esteem, but the exact opposite happens. What’s that all about?!
Here’s the deal, everyone is desperately insecure. Everyone struggles with saying “no” and setting appropriate boundaries for themselves. Unfortunately, nobody wants to reveal those dirty little secrets. So we’re all walking around feeling like the biggest loser in the universe. We don’t think anyone can relate with us.
But when I open up and share who I am deep inside, people don’t feel alone anymore. They feel loved – because my honesty is a gesture of love.
Here’s what I’m saying. No matter if you’re a pastor, painter, or penman, you can be honest. You can open up and show people your true colors. And people won’t respect you less – they’ll actually respect you more. When you’re willing to take down your mask (and we all wear masks), that’s a gesture of love. It’s selflessness. You’re showing those around you that they aren’t alone.
And we aren’t alone in this fight. We all, we artists, deal with the same things. We are so insecure. We are so inadequate. We are so bad at setting boundaries. We have the emotional maturity of toddlers. But that’s what makes this art thing so beautiful. Art’s beautiful because it comes from messed up people.
Let’s be messy and honest and make some beautiful art.
That’s a great post.
Honesty is refreshing and people
are starving for it imho.
Keep up the great work.
That’s a great post.
Honesty is refreshing and people
are starving for it imho.
Keep up the great work.