An Open Letter To Creatives: Thank You

Dear creatives,

Wherever you may be, whatever you may do, wherever you may share it and however you may say it; this is for you.

Thank you for staying up nights on end and finding ways to pour your soul onto a canvas of your choosing when you could be sleeping. Thank you for pouring crags of effort into creating when you could just do what everyone else does; find a well-paying job and settle in your safety net. Thank you for going the extra mile to make a point, to make a difference.

Thank you for choosing over and over again to channel feelings and raw emotion and for quaking controversy instead of keeping quiet and settling for peace. Thank you for digging deep within your heart and using the pain you find there to create. Thank you for being so strong to summon enough bravery and nerve to bare yourself naked, true and unfiltered to the world.

Thank you for trying to converse with people you don’t know and for trying to get through to them and maybe, if for a split second, take them out of their world and into yours; make them feel what you feel.

Thank you for battling your self-doubt and putting your art out there even when you’re not entirely confident in how it will be received or if it’s relatable and even when you fear you’ll never be good enough or that you’ll make an impact.

Know that it takes courage to share parts of your soul in a world that has grown scared of magic. But know that it gives back more courage than it takes.

I’m sorry that sometimes your art isn’t well received, it happens, but know that just because it isn’t understood doesn’t mean it isn’t worthy. Art and creation have always been about communicating emotion and for as long as you feel through your art; you have done your part.

You see, to create is to feel and to feel is to understand and all it takes to make it worthy is for you to feel it or feel through it.

I’m sorry that you’ve been called pretentious more than once by more than one person. I’m sorry that sometimes some people go out of their way to say your work “isn’t art”, to say it must’ve been too easy to create. All this stems from their inability look through things, to savor and appreciate. I’m sorry that you have to be criticized by people who don’t really understand what it’s like to create.

I’m sorry that the world we live in is drawn to finding flaws in whatever it sees and is used to picking apart anything or anyone different or original. It’s ugly and unfair but sometimes so is life and it’s easier to accept and deal with instead of try and change it.

I’m sorry that some people do not and will not understand your process.

I’m sorry that they don’t get to experience what it feels like to fall in love over and over again with a thought, with skin, with a movement, with a line, with a word, with a feeling, with a voice, with a touch; with everything that you create and everything that you are created from.

There may not be many of you, but know this; you are seen, you are understood, you are appreciated and you are needed.

Thank you for creating.