Browsing Tag

comparing yourself to others

Always Remember: Comparison is the Thief of Joy

My jealous neck

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

I don’t know who said it and I’m not sure the Internet does either, but my friends at Vinca put these brilliant words on a necklace for me because ~~they know I’m a insecure and jealous turd~~ of a blog post I wrote regarding 10 Different Ways for Artists to Fight Doubt and Insecurity.

In the post, I listed “stop comparing yourself to others” in ten variations. That’s all you really need to remember to fight artistic doubt and insecurity. Oh, and that whiskey will get you through the cold months (and I don’t mean winter).

In the insta-fame society we now live in, it can be very difficult not to compare yourself to others. When hard-working musicians see talentless teenagers make the news rounds because of their atrocious Youtube hit, feelings of confusion and denial may blister. When driven writers see 12 year-old fashion bloggers inking multimillion dollar contracts with fashion lines, the want to drink oneself into oblivion (more…)

October 22, 2013 by hipstercrite

Hipstercrite Life

10 Ways For Artists to Fight Doubt and Insecurity

“You! You right there! You suck AT LIFE, mother fucker!”

For almost two years now, people have paid me to write for them. In the past year, I went strictly freelance and in doing so, my paid writing work picked up.

I feel very fortunate.

Actually, most of the time I feel completely bewildered.

Scared.

Confused.

Insecure.

Gassy.

Every day I envision a Russian totalitarian figure a la propagandic style standing tall amongst a backdrop of fire, pointing a giant forefinger at me and shouting, “YOU are obsolete! YOU have no idea what you are doing!”; a fleet of angular soldiers in perfect unison come to whisk me away and save humanity from the disease known as my poor prose.

I’m still not exactly sure where semicolons go and you will never see me use a word like “perfunctory” in a sentence. I’m not even sure what that means. Granted, I DON’T HAVE AN EDITOR TO FIX MY MISTAKES!

This is an insecurity I mostly keep to myself because, well, nothing is more unattractive (more…)

November 15, 2012 by hipstercrite

20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

It’s Going to Be OK: A Twenty-Something Tale

I have a friend in her early twenties who is beautiful, intelligent and very gifted. She’s the sort of person you spot from across the room and think, “Her. She’s the one I want to talk to. There is something special about that one.”

Everyone knows this except her.

She doesn’t believe it.

Right now, she has found herself at a complete loss as to what to do with her life. This confusion has led to a certain amount of paralysis in creating; where do you start when you’re not sure what direction you’re going? This paralysis can often be amplified by a newfound real world insecurity once you begin comparing yourself to your peers and erroneously, people older than you.

When I talk to her, I find myself getting riled up, remembering the days when I felt exactly like her. The words that leave her lips are identical to the ones I found myself saying at 22, 23, 24.

I try so hard not to project my own experiences upon her when conversing, but it is difficult. I want to (more…)

September 18, 2012 by hipstercrite