The more I advance and progress forward with my purpose and journey, the more I understand how this is, paradoxically, both the easiest and the hardest time to be someone who doesn’t follow the cliché standard of living.
It’s the easiest time in the sense that our generation has access to more resources and technological advancements than generations before us ever had. We have more agency over our own operations, processes, creative input, and ultimately, what we choose to build. You can be different without it necessarily being seen as extremely out of this world. Everyone is experimenting and expressing themselves in their own way, so there’s a relative freedom to be versatile without being too fearful of judgment.
But at the same time, it might be one of the hardest times to actually stand out.
Most endeavors are extremely saturated, especially as an entrepreneur or creative. People behave enviously. People won’t support something they may actually like because they’re afraid of being judged by other people for associating themselves with it—especially when it isn’t something the masses have already accepted and agreed is “acceptable.”
Everyone’s attention span is so bad that, paired with this subconscious envy, people often won’t engage with your work if it isn’t 100% their “speed” off rip. Most people can’t afford to give your work the time it might require. And depending on the situation, even if something is good, it might not stick with them long enough because of how fast-paced and saturated everything has become.
There’s always another post, another brand, another artist, another person, another thing asking for their attention.
The road feels lonelier than ever because it feels like the era of connecting and having genuine communities with minimal ego is gone. Everyone, in their own way, has become a little conceited, a little narcissistic. Ironically, even a lot of the groups and communities that exist today can feel forced, inauthentic, or insignificant regardless of their popularity—Clover Boys, FaZe Clan/CORE, New YSL, etc. They might be popular, but popularity and genuine community aren’t necessarily the same thing.
There’s another paradox in all of this. As much as there’s freedom to stand out and be versatile, it’s just as difficult to actually stand out because a lot of people—not everyone—are doing relatively the same thing.
Clothing brands are a prime example. Everyone has, or wants to start, something like a clothing brand. But without significant funding or a pre-existing audience, it becomes difficult to craft products and experiences that truly differentiate you from every other brand trying to do the same thing. The tools have become more accessible, but that accessibility also means more people are using the same tools.
So the barrier to creating something is lower, while the barrier to making people care about it feels higher.
As a result of all of this, the path becomes very lonely and isolating. Especially when, like I mentioned before, even close friends don’t support you in the way you would expect them to.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that conversations like this are rarely actually had. Every once in a while, I’ll get a reel that isn’t just another random person talking about overcoming adversity or one of the foundational unfortunate circumstances I listed above. Instead, they actually talk about what it truly feels like to live this life and how to navigate it.
Those are some of the only times I feel genuinely understood and seen.
No one really talks about this for real.
So I have to tip my hat to anybody who is still doing something. Anybody who is still creating, building, practicing, experimenting, learning, or committing themselves to a craft regardless of the current circumstances. Whether you have ten people paying attention or ten thousand, whether the results are coming or they aren’t, whether the people around you understand it yet or not.
If nobody has told you, I respect you. I appreciate your commitment to your craft.
Because at the end of the day, I truly believe that’s what makes the world a better place. People choosing to create, express themselves, build something, or dedicate themselves to something they genuinely believe in is what continues to push the world forward. It raises the consciousness of the world. It gives the next person something to see, hear, feel, question, or believe in that wasn’t there before.
Maybe those are the “chosen” ones.
Not necessarily people who were chosen by some outside force or guaranteed some extraordinary outcome, but the people who continue to choose their purpose when there is very little external validation telling them to do so.
As I’ve become more consistent, I’ve also started feeling the weight of the negatives more than the positives because the direct results aren’t always as obvious as I’d like them to be. You can be doing more, improving, becoming more disciplined, creating better work—and still look at the numbers and wonder where the evidence of that progress is.
That can make it easy to forget why you started.
But lately, I’ve remembered that I started this for a deeper reason than metrics and data.
I started this to lead by example.
I started this to be a voice for the unheard.
And maybe part of doing that is continuing even during the periods where it feels like nobody is listening yet.
Signed,
JRNRX
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