Hello,
How are you doing? I hope life has been treating you well. I am happy to write to you today😇
On my end, I am fine. My week went well. I was mentally exhausted on Friday. I struggled with something for like 4 hours. It was annoying. The painful part about it was that I had learned how to do this particular thing a week before. When I thought about the frustration that comes with achieving anything it has helped to shape my thought process whenever I read about their wins or achievements. Hence, I love the process coupled with the victory recorded.
Well, that is not the main gist today. Last week, there was a trending tweet from one of the top people in the music industry, Don Jazzy. He signed a new artist. Nothing serious about it. However, the events that led to the signing of the artist are what I will like to share with you in this letter.
As seen from the IG story of Don Jazzy the main reason why he reached out to the artist was that the artist was visible on his social media page. Thus, the artist kept sharing his songs on his page thereby showcasing his talents. This made him visible to people in his industry (music industry) Now, I know you must have read about how important it is to share what you do and how you most likely agree with it. To make things clear, I 100% agree with being visible and sharing what you do. However, I want to share with you why personally it may be difficult for me even though it is something I am consciously working on.
The idea of sharing your work is good because it makes you better positioned so your 'helpers' can find you. This makes a lot of sense because you can be one person away from your big break, big opportunity, or even a dream job. Also, sharing makes you discoverable. Even if your helpers are not the ones looking for you, someone may have noticed what you do and then picks interest in your growth. They may want to become your friends or even mentor you because of your consistency, drive, and talent. I mean who does not want to be friends with a potential? Equally important is that sharing helps you keep track of your growth. Nobody starts perfectly. If you are excellent at what you do, you must have repeatedly given it the required level of practice or effort. Thus, sharing reveals how you go from novice to intermediate and then to the expert stage.
Despite the advantages of sharing what you do, it has been hard for me. Now, this is funny because I am advising you in this letter meanwhile it took a lot of courage to share the link to my newsletter when I first started. If not for my friends who did not let me rest until I did. However, the issue is not that I do not want to share. I feel some internal factors sometimes hold me back from doing so. Factors such as desiring to be extremely good at what I do even before sharing it with others. I want to come with a big bang that makes people pass comments like 'wow! so you did this.' Whereas, before getting to this 'mind-blowing' stage I must have worked hard and diligently. So I would prefer working underground before announcing my supposed 'perfect work'.
Interestingly, this is not helpful because I can't be perfect even when I feel I should have been perfect at a particular point. Growth and development are constant. Therefore, whether I am good or not, it is expected I continue learning to become better because learning never ends.
Also, the idea of my talent is not good enough for people to see yet. There is this fear of showing what does not deserve quality attention or what people might not like. Then, when I see that people do not like it, I get discouraged. This is not to say that I feel bad when I receive constructive feedback but when the energy I receive is not what I was expecting, then it gets discouraging at that moment.
However, the reality of the matter is that I am not developing my talent or skill mainly because I want people to give me a tap on the back or a pity party that I would be good at what I do soon. Instead, whatever talent I have or skill I am developing must be first for myself. In other words, the idea must be that I like what I do and that at whatever stage of my process I am not ashamed of it because it is my journey.
Therefore, I must summon the courage to share my work regardless of whatever the internal factors are saying to me. This applies to you too. It is an intentional decision to share irrespective of how much you know or what is left that you don't know. It helps when you embrace the mindset that whatever talent or skill you possess comes from you first before it gets to others. You have to appreciate it, and decide to nourish, groom and develop it till it becomes what you want it to be. Your decision to share is because your growth is important to you which is inherently connected to appreciating your talent.
Therefore, I am choosing to share the little I know now. I am choosing to share even when my anxiety does not want me to. I am choosing to share irrespective of the comments I may receive. I am choosing to share because I know it is a process. In all of this, I hope you share whatever you have as well. Soon it becomes a beautiful story you and I will tell.
In this new week, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone, and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." — Marianne Williamson
I wish you a great week✨
All my love + everything nice,
The Purple Girl.