An artist is an interesting breed of person.

An artist needs to be confident—it’s a requirement for the job.

If you’re going to be an artist, you need to be convinced that you have something important to add to the world—whether it be some sort of message, some sort of insight, or some sort of style. It may be something that existed before but the world hasn’t seen it done by you yet. You need to be convinced that this matters and that somewhere out there someone is going to be affected by what you do.

And you need to be convinced of this because how can you be an artist if you aren’t? How can you stand by your work and assert that it needs to be seen if you don’t think anyone needs to see it?

If you’re going to be an artist, you need to be confident that you can withstand being told that you’re awful. You need to accept that you will be publicly ripped to pieces and that anyone, at any moment, can look at the thing that means the most to you in the entire world and may say that it’s the worst thing they’ve ever seen.

You’re going to have to accept that you’re going to receive so much criticism that it almost sounds like they’re telling you to stop doing what you’re doing, even if the words never legitimately leave their lips. And you need to be prepared to hear all of this, and still, keep doing what you’re doing. You need to remain firm in your belief that you still have something important to say, that you still have something you need to do.

And I mean it when I say that: need to do. Not want. Want isn’t strong enough if you’re going to be an artist. Nobody endures this for a simple want.

If you’re going to be an artist, you can’t just be confident. You need to be humble as well.

You can withstand criticism. You can laugh it off, let it roll off your back like the proverbial water off a duck’s back but that won’t help you improve. And you cannot go far without improving.

The greatest artists listen to the criticism that they receive, and they think about it. They accept that there might be some truth in it. The greatest artists accept that, while they have something important to say, they are not perfect. And they never will be perfect. The greatest artists are human, and they know that they will always have room to grow and improve and create.

And maybe they don’t take every criticism to heart. They just think consider it. They decide if they agree with it, and if they do, then they apply it to their work. And this, ideally, will make their work better.

An artist’s growth comes from their ability to apply criticism. An artist’s longevity comes from their ability to insist on their importance. Overall, an artist’s existence is dependant on a balance between these two.

The problem with being dependant on these two opposing forces is that they will battle one another, and sometimes in the most inconvenient ways.

Sometimes, your confidence might overpower, and you will refuse to listen to anyone’s advice. Anyone who tries to tell you what to do will immediately be dismissed as stupid, or wrong. And that’s okay as long as you remember, at the end of the day, that other people might have valid points as well.

Sometimes, your humbleness might overpower to the point that it becomes self-consciousness, and you internalize all of the criticisms that you have heard. You find yourself thinking them as your own thoughts. You wonder if you actually do have anything worthwhile to say. You wonder if there’s any point in trying: you wonder if you should stop.

Trust me: this happens to me many times. And when it does, I always return to that idea of need, “This is what I need to do. I can’t give up. If I do, who would I be?”

This thought keeps pushing me through the moments of self-consciousness, long enough to convince me again that I have something important to say.

These things come in waves: sometimes one thought, sometimes another, and sometimes perfect balance. Artists will experience these thoughts in different ways, in different amounts. And that’s okay as long as you insist on maintaining both. It’s in that place of balance that a great artist can be born.

 

Relephant:

The Artist’s Secret: What Artists can Teach us about Creating a Beautiful Life.

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Author: Ciara Hall
Image: @walkthetalkshow on Instagram
Editor: Angel Lebailly
Copy editor: Sara Kärpanen