Spoiler alert: those of us who hit publish publish on the web are self-indulgent. In fact, by the time that I post this piece1, I will be committing a massive act of self-indulgence.
Now, there are probably two kinds of readers2, those who create and those who don’t. Those who don’t are probably nodding their heads in agreement. Those of you who blog, write, paint, sing, act or put anything out into the world are defending this as a creative endeavor, an attempt at some kind of art. Good news and bad news… both parties are 100% right.
Every attempt at art begins with hundreds, if not thousands of self-indulgent acts. It takes a certain lack of self-consciousness and a health3 dose of self-confidence to think that the words coming out of your mouth or your hands matter. That they will have any value whatsoever to others4.
It doesn’t matter if your end game is helping others. It doesn’t matter if you are only writing to figure things out for yourself. You still have to go through the process of finding your voice5. More often than not, that means sharing a tremendous amount of self-indulgent crap with the world until something meaningful eeks its way out of you. It takes time, it takes dedication and it takes a significant amount of insanity to keep at it.
When someone tells you that you are being narcissistic (and someone6 will…) remember two things. 1) They’re right 2) Every piece of art began, as an unmitigated act of self-indulgence.
Thanks for indulging me as always. Hope you stick around and be sure to let me know if anything useful ever slips out.