Hello friends,
I’ve been thinking about this blog a lot lately. How I can best proceed with writing on it, if I should continue to write on it, and why I should or why I shouldn’t. I’ve been having a rough go of it – I feel as though I wasn’t writing because I enjoyed it, I was writing because there was a chance, albeit a considerably small one, that I could make money off of my blog.
And perhaps others are feeling the same way that I am. I feel as though the pressure to profit monetarily off of our passions is so high, that it’s near impossible to be expressing creativity and not feel the pressure to somehow commodify it. It’s a lot of creative people’s dreams in life to be able to make a living off of their creative endeavors, and it has certainly always been one of mine. However, I found myself become disillusioned by the idea of it, because for me, I found that it was stunting my creativity.
I want to begin writing again, and I do enjoy having this corner of the internet dedicated to my writing, but I want to feel inspired to write for creativity’s sake and not for the slight chance that it could make me money.
There shouldn’t be this practice where we have to make money off of everything we can do. I want to learn to be okay with doing things because I enjoy them and not feel guilty because there isn’t a money making purpose for it. This isn’t to say that there isn’t anything inherently wrong with being able to make money off of our skills. I think that it’s absolutely wonderful when people are able to make a life of themselves through things they are passionate about it. I am just wanting to make this point to point out that if you are struggling creatively, this could partially be why.
A mantra for myself, and perhaps it can reach other creatives out there: I do not need to commodify my passions for them to be worthwhile.
I hope that what I’ve written today makes at least a little bit of sense.
Wishing that all is well with you, friend.
XOXO,
Mattie Mae
Midwest Mattie 