Iā€™ve been robbedā€¦ and your teen has too (probably).
I’m pacing my room fighting the urge to scrap everything I’ve worked on for the past two weeks. I hit a self-doubt wall with this project that no one is going to care about. I start up my STPT (Self-Talk Pep-Talk) engine. “This time is going to be different. This time I’ve created something great. Everyone will recognize my genius. You got this, bruh!”
I hurry over to my computer, force myself to sit back down, and close the 12 tabs I have open with Ryan Trahan’s newest video, a Dune cinema review, Dude Dad’s home addition, and whatever else I’ve been pretending to “research.”
I take a deep breath, publish my video, and wait. One hour passes… 0 views. Two hours pass… 0 views. One day passes… 0 views. I crawl under my covers and die.
Okay, so that didn’t happen… this time. But, it has definitely happened to me before. I put my heart and soul into something and nothing happens. Crickets. Then I look at “everyone” else and start to compare myself with them and my negative internal dialogue roars into action.
But not this time. A week ago I finished a story and posted it on YouTube. For once I’ve been able to enjoy being done with a project without tainting that joy by comparing myself with others. How can this be? Well, I picked three audience members in advance and decided if they were pleased with my video then I would be happy with my video. I wouldn’t worry about anyone else. Who were the three? Myself, my wife, and *God. Let me tell you, it feels good.
Are there things I wish I could’ve done better? Yep. Is there anything that I would go back and fix? Totally. Could I spend the next six months trying to make it perfect? Of course. But is it good enough for me to be proud of and for others to enjoy? Absolutely. So, I shipped it. It’s out in the wild and it feels good.
Now to synthesize all that into the following one thought. The joy of creating is tainted when its prize is robbed by pride. The pride of comparison and social standing.
*NOTE - I'm not claiming to be a prophet, start a new religion, or anything like that. I'm simply pointing out that I wanted to create something that would please God rather than the gods of social media.
