Something that's been bothering me the last few weeks (before the last few weeks too, but for some reason, I feel like I'm encountering it more than usual the last few weeks) is hearing people sort of brag about how much money they make or how much money they're going to spend on something or how much attention they're getting or how much of a crowd they generate or how many "followers" they have online or how many books they're selling or how many page views they're receiving or how popular they are. As though money and numbers and popularity somehow go hand in hand with success.
Maybe this is just a fluke, maybe it's partly a younger generation sort of thing, but the main reason it's bothering me is because I'm seeing it associated with art, music, and creative writing (even poetry) more than it used to be and I don't equate money or popularity with success in the realms of art, music, and writing (especially poetry). Obviously there are many different styles of art, music, and writing and some styles are going to get more attention than others and some people are going to get more attention than others and some of that is based on quality and some of that is based on presentation and/or personality and/or promotion and/or other factors and of course different people have different goals and there certainly isn't any one right or wrong way to do things.
But for me personally, my main focus is on the creating (in my case, mostly writing poetry; occasionally visual art) and then getting it out there. I don't expect it to make much money or generate a lot of popularity or a big following, because my content and style are not particularly popular or mainstream and that's fine with me, because my style is me and I was never aiming towards mainstream popularity or having thousands of followers. But my art not being particularly popular doesn't mean I don't work hard on my art.
Yes, I get very excited when my poetry is accepted for publication and yes, it makes me feel good when some of my poetry publications do seem to generate a little attention or a positive review (and yes, admittedly, I sometimes get a little bummed out when it seems like my published work is hardly getting any attention at all - but then I think, "Did I write it to get other people's attention or please others? No, I wrote it because I was compelled to write it for whatever my own reasons were").
When I see creative people making a big deal about numbers and popularity, it causes me to wonder if that's their main goal (getting attention and being popular) and if so, why?
When I hear people equating money to hard work, I feel like they are only thinking about THEMSELVES (because there are lots of people who work hard for years and never make much money, not because of lack of work, but because of their line of work and various other factors).
If someone's hard work has paid off for them and given them the success they were aiming for at this juncture in their life, then good for them. But that doesn't make them some professional expert with a lifelong skill set that applies to everyone else too. Nor does it necessarily make them more successful than others. We all have different goals, different visions, different passions, different ideas, different definitions about what does or does not equate to success.
For me, success is not linked to money, popularity, acting like some sort of professional expert on anything, or bragging. Don't get me wrong, I will excitedly share my poetry publications (and maybe I do that too much, in some people's opinions, but I'm sharing what I'm genuinely excited about). For me, success is based on trying one's best to be one's own true and genuine self, regardless of how much attention that does or doesn't generate. For me, success is based on genuine expression and unique poetry and art.
For me, when someone seems to brag about themselves on a monetary level or be really focused on how many "followers" they have, I kind of feel like maybe I should un-follow that person, because I don't think I relate to them and I don't think they relate to me or even necessarily care about me, because to me it seems like they don't particularly care about who their followers are on an individual level. They care about the numbers.
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