Hello, Bunnies,
It's been a while since I wrote something that wasn't (like) poetry. The reason being that I haven't had anything I wanted to talk about or that I could talk about (yet). However, God has blessed me with some writing inspiration today.
For those who don't know or who are new, I am a creative spirit. Bringing things to reality from my imagination makes me so happy, gives me joy and is one of my purposes. Here are the creative things I do
- I write
- I sing
- I am a photographer
- I act
- I dabble in fashion (putting together outfits, drawing outfits for my tailor to make). This I do for myself and mum only.
These things are not easy to do, at all. Without the understanding that these are God-given talents that exist outside of people's acceptance, I'd probably have packed up and given up a long time ago. That understanding is what has kept me practising and training my talents because God knows I do not get adequate support and encouragement to keep me going. Shoutout to the day 1s who read, share and check up on me, I love you. But on the grander scale, real supporters are few. If I calculate based on the "family and friends" I have, the real supporters are not even 10% (not those who lie and can't even humour me with a retweet). I'm not here to call people out, I don't have that energy. Hence why the foundation is not on human beings. The people you expect to be supporting you are MIA, the blogs and books are not pulling in the numbers and you're wondering why you even bother. You feel like you will never build that fan base or get that recognition. Are you really deceiving yourself with that 'Creative' title?
At this point in the creative journey, you have to take a step back (you don't want to do this because it's forward ever and backwards never but you have to). Take a step back an ask yourself, is there a greater recognition and acceptance of you than that of God and yourself. Your creative work is an extension of yourself and if it is something that took a while for you to get confident in and you feel vulnerable. You're putting an intimate part of you out to the world saying 'hello, see me', 'I want to relate to you', 'can you relate to me', 'am I interesting?', 'am I as good as I think?', 'am I worth it?'. That is scary and so exposing. Unless you can understand that the answers to the above questions have always been a yes from God and should be a yes from you before anyone else then your creative journey will be insecure and unpleasant. You'll always think the worth of your work is dependent on people and that can break you. Not everyone will like what you do and that is ok, support will not come from where you expect it and that is ok because the day you're supposed to blow you will find your audience and your additional support. It will be so ridiculous that people will be coming out of the woodworks recommending you, sharing your work and they will even be strangers.
“You become a writer by writing...somewhere out there is a reader for your book” - Margaret Atwood
So just keep training and improving that talent. People hardly ever see the behind the scenes but they definitely appreciate quality finished work. If you don't train how will you be ready for your day in the spotlight. Creatives bloom when they are supported and encouraged (no man is an island) but you need to be self-providing for a while before people see the vision that you saw from the very beginning. My dear creative don't be discouraged, don't give up and don't stop creating. Regardless of when or if these additional supporters come, you can always count on two people telling you well done; God and you.
"Sometimes you just gotta crown yourself and be your own hype man. Know you're a Queen first. Others can be late to your coronation but you shouldn't be." - Benny (freaking) Kanyip [Queen in training] 👸🏾
Love from BANNK xxx.
