Because I Sometimes Draw

' You told her she could do anything, and, for you, all she wanted to do… was be kind. '

You’re all amazing.

It’s a sad fact that our brains try to tell us otherwise, and most people are their own worst critics, especially over things that they want to do well and want to take pride in.

I’m going to tell everybody something that I read once that has immensely helped me with being able to weather feelings like this and to cope better with these insecurities: the tricky thing about our own writing and our own artwork is that we’re used to it. As with most things, when you see it often enough, it becomes the "every day" to us and our brains start to interpret that as boring or bland or uninspired.

Meanwhile, the people you write with are floored by it, they love every reply you give, every artwork you share, and every post you make! They think it’s amazing and your characterization is perfect and your drawing style is so unique and beautiful and they wish that THEY could write or draw more like you!

The truth of the matter is, you all write and draw fabulously and you all bring so much life and dimension and love to your characters and the fandom wouldn’t be the same without you! And, yes! Even those of you who write the same muses as other people! Even those who are artists in fandoms with lots of artists and fan content! You each bring something important to those characters: new perspective, new headcanons, new writing styles, et cetera.

Our brains are hard-wired to be self-critical and to Compare––hence the perception that “so-and-so is So Cool™ and I am a Lettuce”––but that simply isn’t true, and if anything should prove that, look at the fact the same people you think are So Cool™ are reblogging the same sort of posts!

Anxiety is a bear, I know, and I get that. It is a daily and sometimes hourly struggle that has its wins and its losses.

But, when it starts to tell you that you’re not a good enough writer or you're not interesting enough as an artist or that the fandom could do without your version of character or any other number of things, just try to remind yourself that there are plenty of other people you respect a whole lot and love to write with and love to see artwork from who think the same as you, and it’s as Not True about you as it is Not True about them.