Sarah Leavitt on creating

“I don’t think it’s news to anyone that it takes a certain kind of resilience to be a creative worker. There’s so much rejection. So much losing, so much not getting the award or the grant or the job or the likes. It’s hard not to get super jealous, to wish you had someone else’s career, to despair about your own work. That’s definitely been a huge struggle for me. So how do we avoid being full of envy for others or condemnation for ourselves? Maybe it helps to think about what will happen if you never win anything. No awards, no grants, no millions of followers. Are there other reasons that will keep you going? Maybe the discipline of being a worker, maybe joy. Maybe being super aware of how it feels to make your art – in your body, in your heart.”

— Sarah Leavitt (via)