Day 396 || creativity discouragers

I don’t think there is any industry that people discourage more immediately and blindly than they do of anyone pursuing a life in the arts.

People are happy to tell you how hard it is - but they’ve never tried. They claim safer industries and careers and condescendingly claim to admire your passion while silently offering fearful judgements and thinly veiled disappointment in you.

Being someone who has chased both a “safe” and a “risky” career - I can honestly say - art is an admirable field partially because of all the doubt we face. But it’s not as impossible as people make it out to be. Sure immediate overnight success and becoming a millionaire may be a bit out of touch as far as goals go - but making a sustainable career in the arts is not only possible - but it’s commonly done. I’m not saying it’s easy - but dammit I am so tired of people pretending it’s not something that is even possible.

Art is a billion dollar industry - Creativity is all around us - we’re all consuming it all the time - almost every industry needs and pays a creative of some kind and regardless - so it’s wild to me that people are so discouraging about those of us who want to pursue something creative or out of the ordinary as a career.

There are thousands of actors we don’t know the names of - who are happily making a solid career doing what they love on a smaller scale. And I’m sure they feel like they aren’t successful if the relative scale is Meryl Streep but if the regular scale is real life- people who hate their cubicle jobs and make the same amount as he does - I’d say that he was actually incredible successful.

Sure, art a very difficult career trajectory for a lot of reasons - but let’s not forget a lot of “safe paths” are difficult as hell to become successful in, too.

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