Fears That Creatives Should Overcome

“I’m not sure I can actually write on this because I’m not in this industry.” Those were my first thoughts when I read the WinterABC theme for this week. “Am I actually a creative?” I did a lot of reading and it turns out that I am, in fact, a creative. Writers are creatives too.

In the past, whenever I thought of creatives, the people that came to mind first were the artists dressed in their paint splattered overalls, the photographers with a great eye for detail, or even the artist who started by releasing their music on SoundCloud. The writer who had to do so many edits, change the plot of the book countless times or have 24 drafts sitting on their computer and yet having nothing to write about (me), never made it to the front of the list. I hope it sticks in my head now that writers are creatives too.

It’s been amazing to see so many people tap into the creative parts of them. In fact, I believe human beings are creative by nature. We create to survive. Whether it’s creating content or creating a vaccine, we all have the ability to create in one way or another.

Being a beginner in the creative field is not easy at all. Granted, some do have it easier than others but generally, there are a few things to overcome when getting into that space. I’ve been actively blogging for a couple of years. There are some things I was afraid of at the beginning of the blogging journey and there are things I’m still afraid of now. I believe this could be the case for other creatives too. I’ll share a few of them with you.

Fear of being vulnerable

Opening up to a bunch of people you really don’t know is not fun. The cool thing about vulnerability when creating content is that it adds a human element to one’s work. Whether it is in your paintings, poetry, music, your podcast, your blog or whatever it is you do, being vulnerable just makes you even more relatable and your work even more authentic.

There is something about reading or listening to poetry laced with the actual emotions of the poet. Be it their joy, their sadness, or their fear. I’m not one to look at paintings and be so mind-blown but I have heard people deduce the feelings of the artist and the message the artist was sending, just by looking at the painting.

The human element has always been something nice for me. Listening to podcasts and feeling like I can actually connect with the person behind the voice always makes me go back for more. As a consumer, it works out but being the creative, not so much.

If you’ve ever written a poem that suddenly became too personal or recorded a podcast and found yourself saying too much, I know you may understand how scary it is to let other people read or listen to that. That’s one of my fears as a creative. Being vulnerable.

Of course, I don’t need to have emotionally laden conversations on my blog every time but sharing my feelings in small doses, through my work should be fine and helpful in overcoming the fear of being vulnerable. Also, being completely aware of my feelings has been helpful in this area too. Be aware of your feelings.

Not being creative enough

The fear that I’m not interesting enough or fear that I’m not creative enough has gotten in the way of me doing a few things. One of the ways I’m trying to overcome this now is by building up on what I believe I can already do and turn that into something more.

What is the measure of creativity anyway? Who decides if you’re creative enough or not? I know some things are pushed on us because of public response. You see how well the public responds to Sara’s* work and because your work is very different from Sara’s, you think maybe you’re not creative enough. I don’t know. Don’t compare yourself to others and don’t let others be a measure of your creativity.
(*I used the name Sara because of a show I recently watched. This is not intended to offend anyone named Sara.)

Overcoming the fear of not being creative enough requires you to look within yourself. Identify what you’re good at and go up from there.

Fear of failure

This is a very common fear. Sometimes we fear failure so much, we never even try. When I first started the blog, I wrote about some fears I had and one of them was failure. Failure is terrible but we still have to try.

Try and record that video, record the podcast, get a blank canvas and paint, send that e-mail etc. Whatever you do, just try. Sometimes, you just trying is a bigger victory than you succeeding in the end.
If you try and end up failing, then learn from whatever mistakes you made. So many people in the creative industry failed at something when just starting out. What matters is what you do after. Lose the fear of failure.

You Can Also Read: Addressing Fear

Some people may disagree but I say, start small. I’ll give an example, when I first started blogging, I planned to post once or twice a week. My mom advised me against it. She suggested I post once a month and then if I can make that work, move on to twice a month. Of course, I didn’t listen and failed miserably at that I ended up abandoning the blog for a while.
My advice to you is if you’re just starting out, in whatever industry you’ve chosen, start small and then once you’re comfortable in that field or environment and done some learning, add more.

Those are 3 fears I had when starting out as a blogger and 3 fears I have now that I’m getting closer to actually doing something I’ve wanted to for years. I hope my experience as a blogger helps me out and helps other creatives who are just beginning their journey.

You Can Also Read: Don’t: The African Content Creator Edition

Let me now what fears you had or have as a creative. Also, if you’re just starting out as a creative in whatever field, what are some fears you have? Leave a comment below? I’d love to hear from you and maybe we can help each other out.

Thanks for reading!
Love,
Wonani Xx

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Hey guys! Happy new month! I should have posted yesterday but then realised I didn’t schedule the post so it never went up. Anyway, for the whole month of June, I’m taking part in the Afrobloggers Winter Blogging Challenge. If you have been here for a while, you know I took part last year too.

This means that for the month of June only, I will be posting every week day, following the themes given for the challenge! That is, everyday except weekends. If you would like to take part, please visit Afrobloggers website for more information and answers to any questions you might have.

You Can Also Read: WinterABC 2020

The theme for this week is “Creatives Week”. I’m looking forward to reading what everyone comes up with this month and interacting with everyone. With that said, I’ll be back tomorrow. Follow the blog to keep up with everything! Thank you.