#Basically the two big things: you’ll have more setbacks than visible wins. Don’t get disheartened

[aeolianblues]

okay with now twenty five years of wisdom I’ll tell you the secret to making it in a non-traditional/creative field, or perhaps really even any field for that matter, as told by someone who has now realised they are twenty five and have absolutely not made fuck-all anywhere: you cannot get disheartened. It’s a labour of love not only on what you do, but also in who will support you.

You know that XKCD meme about the entire internet resting on the shoulders of one single open source library developed by a single developer in their free time at home? Most movements are propped up on the shoulders of a small handful of passionate people who genuinely care about what they’re doing.

Take care of yourself, and take care of their sanity and yours. If you truly care, you simply have to get good at not getting disheartened when you realise that most people do not give a fuck, and that most scenes are propped up by a few people with little to no resources.

It’s not going to be the people in positions of authority or relative power who will support your work with resources. You’ll be very lucky if they do. At most someone might drop you the money to do what you wish. Making it come true unfortunately, is up to your little troupe. Do not expect any more than you know you can get. It will only lead to disappointment.

You are not special of course, bubbles of burgeoning culture have cropped up before you and have died uneventful deaths. But the fact that you are playing even a small part in your era is huge. Whether you’re pioneering post-modern postmodernism or setting up a new way of involving kids in youth theatre. Whether you’re starting a local punk scene or rallying every furry online. You are part of something that you believe in. It will never have gone to waste. Your efforts will always have mattered. It doesn’t matter if the whole world doesn’t know. Those who you created an opportunity for, will know and care. And they will never forget you.

Sometimes you don’t know what you have laid down the foundations for. Things take time and patience. Sometimes things you wish you could be around for will happen when you’ve moved on from them. Know what you did. You did good.

Never forget why you started doing something. Let that be the principle that guides you. The path may change, you must be flexible too; you’d know a thing or two about unpredictability in unorthodox feields anyway. Accept the happy accidents, and let the greater good that set you on your path guide you. Don’t lose sight of it.

Oh, and probably most importantly? It’s okay if it fails. For the time that it existed, your efforts were glorious and will have touched people’s lives in intangible little ways that you may never get the chance to know. And so I’m telling you. Your efforts matter. Your impact on your surroundings can never be erased. Keep working.