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Welcome.
If you know me, you know that I have a special place in my heart for the doers: artists, athletes, creators, and anyone who’s willing to throw the fear of public failure and judgement aside to do what they want to do. Those are the people I want to associate with.
This has been on my mind for a long time. After the Olympics, the Simone Biles saga, Naomi Osaka, and even Kanye West and the Donda rollout, I felt like getting these thoughts out of my head and onto digital paper.
Expression & Vulnerability
Creatives are a special breed. They’re powerful, yet fragile. Headstrong, but malleable. It’s almost like they feel on a level different than the typical rank and file milling around. From an early age, our school system teaches us that the easiest way to be accepted is to follow the trends and do what most people are doing—just fit in.
As we get older, that turns into 9-5s and homogenous political views. To reference The Alchemist, which I just finished (it’s magical), it is as if we lose sight of our Personal Legend and let something else take its place.
But there are people who won’t accept not doing what they want to do. They have something to say or a goal to achieve that’s worth more than just fitting in. They have to express themselves in a non-traditional way. While some write great emails, Kanye expresses his creative vision by recreating his childhood home inside of Soldier Field as part of a multi-city tour to roll out his latest album. Tomato tomato.
A lot of people start. But as I’ve watched artists, athletes, and creators strive for their goals, I also see the classic “crabs in a barrel” dynamic. Someone decides to give their idea a try. Maybe they see some success, or maybe it’s a shabby first draft. As the crab tries to climb out of the barrel, maybe stray too far from the common path, other crabs reach out and pull it back in. The “crabs” may be people around them, it may be their environment, or life, that does whatever it can to keep dreaming but not acting. Those who decide to jump are vulnerable in public. There is no guarantee that whatever they sacrificed will pay off. They might not get those flowers.
The Water Bottle Theory
I call my theory on expression, and the different ways this takes shape between people, the “Water Bottle.” I bucket people into two categories:
1) Artists, athletes, creators
2) Others
Artists, athletes, and creators need an outlet. Something to tip the water bottle over and let the water flow out. Without it, everything is bottlenecked, like squeezing a Dasani bottle and watching water shoot out. If you have an outlet, instead of squeezing, you can tip over that bottle. Out comes a consistent, concentrated stream of water.
Others don’t need that outlet. Maybe they don’t have that creative nature lying deep within them, causing turmoil when they aren’t creating. Either way, they don’t have that bottleneck. Maybe they developed multiple ways to express themselves over the years and are much more consistent in their communication. Basically, more like a cup of water. The wide mouth of a cup of water allows for a smoother pour.
Comfort in Numbers
There is a comfort in knowing you’re similar to the person next to you. That you both act as cogs in similar machines and have the safety of fitting in so that your vulnerability is never directly the topic of discussion. It takes a special level of conviction, delusion, and perseverance to pursue something that is outside of these comforts.
We need these people. Otherwise, we’ll just all end up as Amazon employees.
Too often we use our accounts—our mini-microphones—to criticize from the couch. The first ones with opinions and the last with actions. It’s as if we’ve all forgotten—or never experienced—what it’s like to try.
Maybe, we’ve lost a little empathy.
If we all put some effort toward our side hustles and hobbies, I think we would be a little more understanding of the ventures that fail, or at the very least, too busy with our own endeavors to point out the shortcomings of others.
Cheerleaders
We need to support and elevate those around us. Discuss goals and cheer each other on. I don’t mean to position this as “I do this, you should do this too” either. We all show support in different ways. But however that takes shape, become cheerleaders.
If we see others struggle on a public stage, or do something we don’t understand, there’s probably a reason for that. They’re trying to figure it out too. The more undue criticism, the more undercutting that is happening.
We should all try for ourselves, and we should all lend support in whichever way we can, to elevate those who are also trying.
It’s easy to be optimistic, it takes a little effort to throw stones.