Sharing your skills and talents can be both exciting and terrifying.
Photo by Sir Manuel on Unsplash
Everyone is a creator. But what that means is wildly variable.
What most create is simple, but important. It might work with a necessity in your life, cover a basic need, or otherwise serve you. Thus, you’re a creator, but not necessarily an artist.
Artists are creators who produce specific creative works to expand beauty, minds, ideas, and the world at large. That might seem grandiose – but it’s true. When you create art, that art will have an impact – good, bad, or otherwise. What you create is a part of the growth process of all humanity.
Books, paintings, sculptures, architectural wonders, delicious recipes, and all other works of art impact the world. New ideas, new color combinations, and new stories that help with the overall growth of life, the Universe, and everything.
This is especially true when you share your skills and talents with the world. Putting your art out there to be seen and/or purchased contributes to the world in some way or another.
And that is probably why many hold back rather than share their skills and talents.
Being seen vs being judged
People are judgmental. Full stop.
Even those who strive to not be judgy tend to be, from time to time. I think that’s just a part of human nature. You see something and judge it based on your life experience, prejudices, biases, and likewise.
But, from there – after that initial, instinctual reaction – you decide. You choose to view, judge silently, or keep your judgment to yourself.
Being judged can be massively disconcerting. Particularly when it comes with criticism, harsh critiques, and negativity.
What’s more, it’s very hard to not take the judgment of your skills and talents as not being personal. To be fair, sometimes it is personal. But overall – it’s probably not.
Art is subjective. Very, highly subjective. For every genre of book there’s an audience – and people not into them. The same is true for types of food, paintings, music, and all other art.
For example – I’m not into horror movies, country music, romance books, and most pop art. My initial judgment of any in these categories is going to be negative because I’m not into them. But that is not a judgment of their creators.
When you share your talents and skills with the world, you are making yourself seen. And being seen can be just as scary as being judged.
Being seen can also be challenging in the face of avoided arrogance, narcissism, cockiness, and the like.
Putting yourself, your skills, and talents out there usually involves stepping out of your comfort zone.
The how of sharing artistic skills and talents
When you choose to share your skills and talents, there are multiple options available.
Sometimes you share for free. Put your words on a blog on the internet, your art on a website, or your recipe on TikTok – all of these are shared with the world largely for free. They’re out there and accessible to a huge, wide audience.
You can decide to sell the fruits of your skills and talents. I sell my books. Some painters and graphic designers sell their art. Chefs sell cookbooks, and so on.
When it comes to sharing your artistic skills and talents, you decide how to share them. There are so many venues and options available.
You also get to choose if you will share with a broad or narrow audience. A few friends, family, trusted confidants – or the world?
Sometimes you don’t share a finished product – but feel a need to share it. Works in progress sometimes benefit from other eyes looking them over. Beta readers, for example, help smooth stories and clean up plot holes.
How you share your skills and talents is entirely up to you.
Some people create their art just for themselves and their own edification. You might have no need or desire to share. Just make it and keep it to/for yourself.
But some people desire to share – they’re just afraid. That’s often a combination of a fear of judgment, fear of being seen, and fear of leaving your comfort zone.
If you desire to put your work out there and share your artistic skills and talents – go for it. But know you are not alone if you’re scared to do so and want to hold back.
If you find yourself holding back, ask yourself why? Why are you holding back? What do you think will happen if you share? What’ll happen if you don’t share? Are there good things that might come from you sharing your skills and talents? Are there bad things that might come? Don’t just ask these questions – write them out, and their answers. Look at what’s holding you back and why.
Only when you acknowledge and address it can you change it. Otherwise, whatever’s holding you back will continue to do so unchecked and unresisted.
Sharing your artistic skills and talents is a choice
When you share your work, you are opening yourself to negative feedback. No question. But you’re also opening yourself to new worlds, new possibilities, and new potential.
It’s a choice. And you always get to decide, with each new work, if you will share it, how you will share it, or if you’ll choose instead to hold it back.
Whatever you choose to do with your skills and talents, please use them. Don’t deny yourself of your gifts – even if you’re not comfortable sharing them with the world. You are a creator. And if you happen to also be an artist – make art and add beauty to a world always in need of more.
Even if you hold back from sharing your skills and talents with the world at large, please don’t hold back your artistic skills and talents from yourself. You are worthy and deserving of them – so go ahead and enjoy them.
How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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