Savannah Watson

I recently heard the phrase: “don’t be afraid to be seen trying” from an author-tuber that I watch regularly. As often happens, listening to her talk about this idea and her thoughts got my brain going.

I think there is a level of vulnerability involved in making public attempts at anything, especially anything creative. For anyone who “isn’t creative”, it may not make much sense, but most artists, writers, and creators put a piece of themselves into everything they do. This creates the vulnerability of allowing strangers to see parts of yourself that you as the creator may or may not be ready to share.

Making public attempts – whether that’s posting pictures of your art on social media, posting videos online, writing for a blog, or selling what you make – puts you right into a hypercritical spotlight, and you are basically opening yourself up to possible criticism and negativity. If your work gets criticized or rejected, it gets criticized or rejected in front of others. And if you fail (god-forbid, as they say), you have failed where other people can see you fail. No one wants to be criticized, rejected, or to fail… and NO ONE wants to experience these things publicly. These can be devastating blows to your self-confidence, especially if you are already less than confident about sharing your work.

Being seen trying can be intimidating. Between the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, and the possibility of negative commentary, it’s hard to publicly show your process and your work. But I also think it’s just as important to show your effort as it is to show the final product.

Showing your effort – being seen trying – can give other people who are watching and supporting you a boost in their own confidence. People often don’t want to be the first to do something or to be the only one. So, when they see you trying, it can be inspirational. One of the truly amazing things is that you never know who you are affecting or in what way.

And as you as the writer, artist, or creator continue to try, you can also gain confidence in yourself. You can inspire yourself when you recognize that you keep trying, no matter what.

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