The Artist Is Often Misunderstood

*Quote image credit to quotefancy.com

I think being an artist of any kind makes you grow into a person who receives lots of misunderstandings.

I once heard a tragic story about Paulo Coelho, the famous author of The Alchemist (an amazing book about chasing your personal legend, by the way) whose parents had decided their son needed to “get help” and institutionalized him for aspiring to be an author.

Then, in a turn of good fortune, he became one of the most successful authors ever.

Some people think it’s delusions of grandeur to want to do better for yourself when you have something that you know you can offer the world.

From a spiritual standpoint, God blesses us with our talents, and we will give an account of how we use them in our lives.

From a practical standpoint, it makes zero sense to try something you don’t enjoy or believe in.

Then there are the stay-in-our-box types, who can’t imagine people who don’t conform to their ideas of what a person should be like.

These people can be safely ignored.

That there are those doing what they love and making a difference in this world means it is possible for you as well.

Small-minded types don’t have this sort of thinking.

They’re the type of people who don’t understand that you can work 14 hours a week and make $600,000 a year because they’ve been fed the lie of go to school, get that degree (which are valuable when used correctly), and get a job for 40 hours a week.

They can’t imagine making money while they sleep, or not trading their time for it.

So when someone breaks out of that thought construct, it might make them feel uncomfortable or like they just have to be right.

The open-minded person will think, “I can work a day job and work on something in my evenings so I can be free.”

The closed mind says, “This is how we’ve always done something.”

That rabbit trail was simply to show what I’m getting at with our art.

“We’ve always written books this way.”

“You must follow Strunk and White to the letter.”

“You can’t combine dubstep with a bagpipe.”

I don’t know if that’s a thing, but it sounded out there, so I went with it.

The best thing to do is to never listen to doubters, critics, or those who say you can’t.

I never was fond of critics, seeing as I think an ideal critic would be one who is a skilled professional in that line of art or work.

As authors, we view things on a craft level, and when we see another author do something amazing, our hearts leap and it “just clicks.”

A musician might listen to another artist’s song and deconstruct the melodies, the lyrics, or the thematic structure of an entire album.

These are craft-level deconstructions that make sense for those in the same field.

I’m not saying you can’t ever criticize something. If a book didn’t work for someone, it’s valuable to know why as a fan or customer.

I just see that the same people who say someone can’t do something assume everyone thinks like they do when that’s just not the case.

There’re also the tired lines of “You think you’re better than everyone else,” and “You’re just doing this for clout, money, blah blah blah.”

I think when an artist is invigorated by the processes that make things work, it’s because their joy is in the art. Everything else is secondary or tertiary to that.

We can be misunderstood all we like.

But what we won’t be is silent, and we certainly won’t give up because it’s not possible for someone else to achieve the dreams you aim for.

Misunderstandings happen all the time.

The best thing to do is stay true to yourself and use the compass you were given, whether it points north or to some desire you have more than anything else.

Keep moving forward and make the mark, whether it takes five weeks or fifteen years.

But remember, if you tell yourself you can’t, then you’re right.

May your creative endeavors be blessed by your own intuition and tenacity.