Creativity is not a safe place. It's a battlefield

It’s not the critics who counts. It’s not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done it differently. The credit belongs to the person who’s actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes up short again and again and again, and who, in the end, while he may know the triumph of high achievement, at least when he fails, he does so daring greatly. – Theodore Roosevelt

Dear creatives,

Fear of criticism & shame paralyzes you. It stops you from putting yourself out there, stepping into your power & playing big.

Here’s the thing – Creativity is not a safe place. It is a battlefield. It is not for the faint of heart. If you dare to be brave and live in the arena, you will have to face the slings and arrows from the enemies, who are intimidated by your freedom. You will fall and you will fail.

There are millions of cheap seats in the world today, filled with people who will never once step foot in that arena. They will never once put themselves out there, but they will make it their full-time job to hurl criticism and judgment towards you.

And if you get into the habit of catching them, and dissecting and, holding them close to your heart, it will crush you.

As a fellow creative fighting in the arena, here’s a piece of advice —

Don’t take criticism & feedback from people who are not being brave with their lives.

There’s nothing more painful than the regret of waking up one day and realizing that you were so crippled by other people judgment & criticism that you missed out on living a creative life that knew you could have lived.

Keep creating.

Yours, Atul Prd

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