I love encouraging others!
Since I love encouraging others so much, I’m sharing Creativity Memes for this year’s A to Z Blog Challenge. The quotes are from all over, but I took each photo with my iPhone. Here’s today’s featured letter:
M is for Mirror Image
Today’s message is one I should tattoo on my inner eyelids! It’s not a daily thing, but every now and then, I compare myself to another creative person, find myself terribly lacking, and fall into a funk.
Why can’t I achieve what they have? Why can’t I be better at what I do? Why haven’t I gotten this or that done by this point in my life? Why am I such a loser?
Ugh! It’s such an icky feeling. But somehow, some way, I eventually get through these comparison flare-ups. To be honest, I am not sure quite how I do it! The next time I feel this way, however, I will pay more attention to how I back out of that feeling. All I know is that I’ve gotten much better at it, so these attacks don’t last anywhere near as long as they used to.
What about you? How do you deal with insecurities that arise from comparing yourself to another creative person? How do you get your creative focus back to that person in the mirror?
Follow me on Instagram & I’ll follow you back!
If you are on Instagram, I’d be delighted to follow you. Simply follow my photo feed (@TuiSnider) on Instagram and I’ll follow you back! Isn’t Instagram fun? I’ve gone from turning up my nose at the idea of cell phone pictures, to being an avid iPhone photographer. I even had my first gallery show last summer!
What is the April A to Z Blog Challenge?
Each April, bloggers from all over the world participate in the April A to Z blog challenge, and you can too. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to meet other bloggers.
To play along, all you do is make a blog post for each letter of the alphabet during April, then visit as many other bloggers as you can. In addition to my personal blog here, I’m also writing A to Z posts for the the Story Dam writing community. You can check those out by clicking here: Story Dam’s Writing Quotes & Encouragement
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Tui Snider is an author, speaker, and photographer who specializes in North Texas travel, cemetery symbols, and haunted lore. As she puts it, “I used to write fiction – but then, I moved to Texas!”
Snider’s best-selling books include Paranormal Texas , Understanding Cemetery Symbols, and 100 Things to Do in Dallas - Fort Worth Before You Die.
Snider has several more books in progress, and enjoys connecting with writers and readers all over the globe through social media, her newsletter and her website: TuiSnider.com.
ugh. I have that feeling right now. But I’m also too tired to really dwell on it and deal with it, so eh.
Trying not to compare myself to others is difficult. But I’m working on it.
We are only human after all.
I try to remind myself that my creative journey is unique. It can never be the same as the next person’s journey. Another thing to remember is that creativity never ends and there’s plenty to go around.
I love encouraging others! Me too. Nice to meet a ‘fellow-encourager’. :)
Hello, fellow A-to-Zer! Yes, it is hard to avoid comparing oneself to other creative people. I know that sometimes, when I find an especially brilliant thing in a story, I am disgusted with myself (for not thinking of it first) rather than pleased with it for its own sake. But then! “I will do something even better,” whispers a voice within me. This isn’t a nice voice, exactly, but it does get me writing again instead of brooding, so it is at least a useful little incubus. So… so I guess what I am saying is that in solving this sort of problem, go with whatever works, whatever gets you working again… even if you are, in your own head, only writing your story to Show That Clever So-And-So, you are back at work again.
Oh, also? Great pictures!
Melanie Atherton Allen
http://www.athertonsmagicvapour.com