Choose Wisely Who You Show Your Work To (Series: If Your Writing Is Tied To Your Personal Experience)

Not everyone is the right audience at first

I could write an entire book about the effects that can arise from a simple text like, “Hey, can you look at this?”

Whether you’re showing someone a video, an article, or a piece of creative work, you’re giving power to that someone. You’re christening them someone who is allowed to give you feedback and oftentimes we default to sending that text to those who feel the most familiar, but familiarity isn’t a good enough of a reason to let them into your creative circle.

I’ll give you an example. My relationship with my family has never met my expectations or specific needs. They are a clan that moves through the world with a group mentality, I have always fought to be an individual. If I were to ever ask them to focus on just me, my work, or my needs, I’d be met with their best attempt, which if I’m honest would always leave me feeling a little emptier than I would hope. They would never critique it or tell me it sucks, but feeling creatively stunted doesn’t require only extreme negativity, passivity can do just as much damage.

But there were many instances when I did send it to them first and I learned the lesson the hard way…