An artist stops chasing viral trends and returns to making work that matters to her. She burned out copying what the algorithm wanted, then learned from a modest creator that speaking directly to the people who care beats chasing fame.
Once upon a time, there was a woman who made beautiful art. Her art was quite unique, just the way she liked it. After all, she'd always admired other artists who created and shared their unique work with the world. The woman started to hear of other artists using the Internet to share their work. But she was afraid. Afraid that people wouldn't like her art. Maybe not even like her. One day, scrolling online, she happened on another artist, someone that she immediately admired. She loved the work that they made, where they came from, and how they actually stood for something. The things that the woman learned about this artist allowed her to feel like she trusted her. This encounter inspired her to share her own work. But as she got started, she realized it certainly wasn't as easy as she thought. And of course, she wanted to get it right. So she did the logical thing and started to look for help. She found many people willing to help her grow on social media. And she soaked up all their advice. Hashtag strategies, trends, picking the right audio, posting 30 times a day. And despite her best efforts, she still couldn't get people to pay attention to the art that she made. Then she noticed something. All the popular people seemed to be doing the same thing. Maybe if she just copied them, like they were all copying each other, she could grow. So she put away all the things that made her different and and gave it a try. Months and months go by, still no growth. Over time, she had become disgusted. Nobody was innovating or trying anything new. People seemed to be happy just doing what everybody else was doing, so long as they were gaining popularity. She lost all of her motivation, deleted her account, and put away her art supplies. Months later, at a lunch date, she noticed that her friend was scrolling through Instagram and happened to be looking at the same artist that had initially inspired her many months ago. Looking at her friend's phone, she saw that the artist only had maybe 1,000 followers. Curious, she went back home and watched a whole bunch of their videos and realized there was something different about them. The artist wasn't rich, but they were happy. They weren't famous, but they made the art that they wanted to make. And people loved it. Not the most people, but people nonetheless. The woman picked up her phone and made a few videos. In them, she talked about her life, the things that frustrated her, the things that made her excited. She shared her artwork. She shared her beliefs, her stories, and the things that she stood for. When she talked to the phone, she thought about the kind of people that she wanted to be friends with and just spoke to them. But above all, she did it without expectation. Her goal wasn't to get big. It was just to connect. It wasn't long before she got her first comment. As she opened up her phone, she saw a message that made her smile. It read, it's so nice to finally see somebody doing something different.
