The Fear of Exposing Your Work
You can create the greatest works that this world has ever seen, but it still might be daunting to actually share them with the world. Because, what if you created one of the worst works that this world has ever seen? What if you’re ‘not good enough’?
What prompted me to write this were my own doubts about my work and posts I’ve seen on Instagram from fellow beginner writers like myself. Yesterday I saw a lot of posts along the lines of: “Writing your novel in your room (a happy person at the computer). Actually giving it to others to read (a distraught person at the computer).”
I think the fear of sharing their work is what holds a lot of artists (in any field) back. It’s a conflict between the aspiration to share your work and the fear of that work being rejected.
I believe the deepest root of this fear is the intimacy between an artist and their work. Whether consciously or not, artists often put their deepest desires and darkest fears into their work. It’s this deep link between the artist and the work that can make it feel like if an artist’s work is ill-received, it’s the artist being rejected from the space they share their work in.
Another big factor is time investment. The more time has gone into a work, the more the fear of rejection can take over. To have a work rejected after pouring your own blood, sweat, and tears into it can be quite devastating.
Even though having your work rejected is a core part of being an artist, it can be extremely difficult to make peace with the fact that your favorite works may never see the light of day. Often this fear leads to the conclusion that it’s better to not share the work at all rather than have it ill-received or ignored.
An artist’s work being ignored is another major factor in manifesting this fear. What’s the point of sharing your work if no one is going to appreciate it anyways? Why bother? Well, there’s one painfully simple solution to this. Share your work despite the fact that no one will see it.
Share it not because you want people to actually see it, but share it because the right audience might one day stumble upon your work. Share your work so that you know it’s out there. It might or it might not become widely recognized, and there’s only one way to find out.
Like any other fear, the only way of tackling this fear is by facing it head-on. Though even after sharing some of your work, the fear might stick with you. First of all, your first works have less audience, so the pressure will only rise the more recognized you become.
Hell, right now I have 9 followers on Medium, most of whom are family and friends, (there’s no pressure at all) and yet I still find myself floating over the “Publish” button for a while before actually pressing it.
Even if an artist receives positive feedback from a broad audience, the fear will always linger in the back of their mind. I think an artist can never truly defeat this fear, as it is innate to someone who shares something so personal with the world. What the artist can do is not let that fear take over.
