As I sit here trying to think what to write, starting to type these very words that you’re now reading in an effort to delay the fact that I should say something of meaning, I’m still thinking about value.
This is good shit! And I don’t swear on the internet. Just spent a week doing an intensive value searching experiment on Instagram. I came out of it alive, sort of, and just wrote about it today.
This is so great - the purpose and the tone. Your writing and podcast put me at ease, make me feel less like I'm reading and listening, and more like I'm just relaxing with a new friend. And I think about the topic of your post often - it's so easy to be yourself and write your own way in a little cave, but once the rock is rolled away and you are confronted by people's witnessing of you, and feedback, it's like you have to be even more vigilant about how or if that witnessing is influencing you. Like the Hawthorne Effect but with creativity and truth vs productivity and experiments. I'm rambling. Great fucking post.
Thanks Trilety, very kind words! If The Wednesday Audio is putting you at ease, you just need to listen to a few more of the annoying episodes 😅
"but once the rock is rolled away and you are confronted by people's witnessing of you, and feedback, it's like you have to be even more vigilant about how or if that witnessing is influencing you"
It is incredibly difficult to be yourself when others are watching. And then of course, which 'self' do you decide to be? We are just a collection of many selves, usually all battling against each other. I think that's why the 'be yourself' thing can be so hard for some, including me.
It's hard to forget people are watching and hard not to self-edit, but the best things I've made over the last year have been when I've done exactly that. Ironicaly, it requires more confidence to not care than it does to care. Most people with huge audiences lack self-confidence and it's why they seeked the comfort of it in the first place.
Sure is, such a weird proposition. I think (I hope) we've come full circle with it. We can now point and laugh at the stupidity of it. At least, that's what I try to do.
"I'm a big fan of writing the stuff you'd want to read. " — 100% agree.
This is good shit! And I don’t swear on the internet. Just spent a week doing an intensive value searching experiment on Instagram. I came out of it alive, sort of, and just wrote about it today.
I'd be interested to read that. Is it online somewhere?
Thanks, just click on the link next to my name. My Substack is called Cabinet of Curiosities.
This was really good. And not just because of bullet point #6.
We are of one mind on all of this...
How do we get back to disagreeing again?
Beaches
Yeah that’s a good one.
This is so great - the purpose and the tone. Your writing and podcast put me at ease, make me feel less like I'm reading and listening, and more like I'm just relaxing with a new friend. And I think about the topic of your post often - it's so easy to be yourself and write your own way in a little cave, but once the rock is rolled away and you are confronted by people's witnessing of you, and feedback, it's like you have to be even more vigilant about how or if that witnessing is influencing you. Like the Hawthorne Effect but with creativity and truth vs productivity and experiments. I'm rambling. Great fucking post.
Thanks Trilety, very kind words! If The Wednesday Audio is putting you at ease, you just need to listen to a few more of the annoying episodes 😅
"but once the rock is rolled away and you are confronted by people's witnessing of you, and feedback, it's like you have to be even more vigilant about how or if that witnessing is influencing you"
It is incredibly difficult to be yourself when others are watching. And then of course, which 'self' do you decide to be? We are just a collection of many selves, usually all battling against each other. I think that's why the 'be yourself' thing can be so hard for some, including me.
It's hard to forget people are watching and hard not to self-edit, but the best things I've made over the last year have been when I've done exactly that. Ironicaly, it requires more confidence to not care than it does to care. Most people with huge audiences lack self-confidence and it's why they seeked the comfort of it in the first place.
Sure is, such a weird proposition. I think (I hope) we've come full circle with it. We can now point and laugh at the stupidity of it. At least, that's what I try to do.
"I'm a big fan of writing the stuff you'd want to read. " — 100% agree.
Enjoy the Percocet 😀