Fickle Feelings

Feelings are fickle.

Some days, we don’t feel smart, creative, or energetic.  Our work doesn’t seem special … or even very good, to be honest.

Other days, we are confident that we can move mountains, and we are certain that our work is valuable and irreplaceable.

Why the difference?  Who knows?

Often, there is no apparent reason.  We just go through it.

Naturally, we would like to figure out how to increase the good days and avoid the bad.  We all want the “ups” without the “downs,” but we’re realistic enough to know it doesn’t work that way.  We have to experience the full range of human emotions, and that carries over into our art.

But this all can lead to self-doubt, which is a very normal challenge for artistic folks.  Everyone contends with self-doubt now and again.  Some precursors include:

• We experience Imposter Syndrome.

• We try a new skill and fail.

• We put ourselves out there and get embarrassed.  

• We make promises to others and ourselves, with the best of intentions, but we come up short.  

• We misplan, misjudge, or simply miss the boat.

If you are human, and especially if you’re a creative, it will happen.

It helps to remember that our feelings are temporary.  Good or bad, they won’t stay that way forever.  This, too, shall pass.

But in the moment, it’s hard.

And, self-doubt isn’t the only problem with fickle feelings.

It can lead us to worry what others think of us (and our art).  When we feel down, we make the mistake of assuming that others look down on us.

We judge ourselves, and then we make it worse when we assume that others are also judging us, and our work, and finding it officially, “Not Good Enough.”

I could tell you that you shouldn’t care what anyone else thinks, and there is some truth to that, but it’s easier in theory than in practice.  

It might help to keep in mind that other people’s feelings are fickle, too.  You can’t take on the responsibility for anyone else’s feelings.  First, you’re not responsible for changing them, and second, you can’t accept the burden of letting them get to you.

I’ll leave it to a quotation, often attributed to various wise souls, but apparently first said by Olin Miller in 1936.

“You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.”

The trick is realizing that our feelings are prone to change on a whim, and that’s true of other people as well.  

Acknowledge the fickle feelings, and continue on with your work.

Quotation Details:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/09/worry-less/