Why You Should Offer Encouragement to Other Creatives

Because after all, we’re all putting our hearts on the line here

I love to look at jewellery. It doesn't matter what kind, but I particularly like hand-crafted one-of-a-kind jewellery — the kind you find at festivals and fairs filled with ordinary people showcasing their craft and sharing their creative life with the world. I love the variety of designs, the elements of each piece strung together into one-of-a-kind works of art.

I usually stop at every jewellery booth I see, but I rarely buy. It’s not that I don’t find beautiful pairs of earrings or turquoise bracelets I’d love to wear, it’s simply because I already own so many pieces of jewellery that I can’t wear them enough to appreciate them.

If I acquire more jewellery, I feel as if I’ll cheapen the pieces I do have. Buying for the sake of buying is something I’m philosophically opposed to, so in order for me to make a purchase at one of these booths the piece has to speak to me.

Yet, I can’t help but be drawn to these booths as I walk through the fairs and festivals, even when I know I will not buy. I touch the chains, try on a few rings, my eyes linger, trying to take in all the beauty of the stones and crystals, the unique designs of twisted metal and hammered silver or copper. I want to hold these pieces, wear them, keep them to admire, but I can’t. They are not all meant for me to own.

Still, I am so appreciative of the artist’s craft that I murmur things like, “It’s all so beautiful.” “So pretty.” or “I love this.” And then I slink away, feeling slightly guilty that I’ve derived so much pleasure from the artist's designs and yet I know I’ve disappointed them when I fail to purchase.

Some will approach me and try to entice me with explicit details of their design process or the quality of their work and the materials they used. That doesn’t make me buy and I feel worse thinking they think I don’t appreciate their work enough to take it home and make it mine.

Sometimes I just walk past their booths, willing myself not to turn and look because I think it’s kinder to not look than to stop and buy nothing.

We’re All Creatives

I string words together and create too. And I understand that disappointment when readers look but do not buy or when people walk past my words not seeing the value in them. I feel the same twinge of rejection I sense the jewellery makers must feel when I finger their creations but walk away.

Don’t my readers (or potential readers) know how much work goes into each story I craft, carefully turning words over and choosing them, inserting them into the settings of hammered out sentences? Do they not understand that a piece of my heart and creative soul are embedded on each page that my fingers shape?

To be ignored, passed by, it hurts a little, and I compare my craft to the jewellers. Often I can admire a piece of jewellery for its craftsmanship and design knowing it’s not a piece I’d never wear. It’s too big, too delicate, too loud, the wrong colour, too expensive.

I suppose my words feel too loud or clunky for some, too mundane or passe for others. Many will look, peruse, but keep walking with their eyes. Others will stop, linger for a moment, consider taking my words home with them but then turn away. Wrong timing, too heavy, they don’t have the room for these words in their hearts.

But some will stop, a bauble or two will catch their eye. They’ll try a few words on, smile and say, “Yes, this is just the piece I’ve been looking for!”

On Feeling Rejected

I think I’ll always stop at every jewellery booth, enjoy the beauty of the creative expression wrought forth in each design, and say, “Well done. Beautiful work. Your contribution to the world is noble and right. Keep creating!”

I’ll do this because I understand that the artist has laid her heart out for the world and it’s a vulnerable way to live.

Going forward, I’ll refrain from receiving rejection when many pass by my creations, it's simply not the right fit for them. But I will keep creating, making art with my words because I never know when someone will take them home and make them their own.

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