There's a certain vulnerability that comes with putting your creations out into the world. It's something I still struggle with to this day, even though my craft(s) consume 99.99% of my time on a day to day basis.

I feel as though there is this expectation that I should be loud and proud of everything that I take part in—and I am most definitely the latter—but it's a quiet pride.

Sure, this often means fewer eyes on the final product. This certainly isn't ideal, but others' reactions aren't the reason I do what I do. I absolutely love the notion of getting to increasingly share bigger and bigger pieces of myself through these mediums. However, at the end of the day, it's more of an itch within me.

Something I feel so compelled to produce, so desperate to get out of me, to reaffirm myself of the "I am not the only one who feels this way" sort of feelings rather than to fulfill the need of it in this world. Calling it a selfish motivation might be a stretch, but this way gives me the mindset to finish feeling moved with the results.

I like to think it's just a "me" thing, but I also tend to get right back to rehearsing, writing, whatever the day's schedule calls for before I brag on any new projects. One Theatre professor of mine acknowledged this common fault among our department—it's not an intentional humbleness, it's somehow just a matter of priorities.

In no way is this a piece advocating for the privatization of one's art, quite the opposite, but I think I'm quite ready to admit that there are times when the opportunity has posed itself and I haven't take advantage.

It's a matter of a constant validation we seek from others, and when it comes to the critique of what likely the closest things you can get to experiencing what it's like to stroll around in someone else's shoes, it's hard not to fear the possibility of just one person who had wished they never tried them on in the first place. It's a leap of faith, putting yourself out there like that. Scarier for some than it may be for others, but the payoff is without a doubt worth the anticipation.

For anyone in this life who makes anything that matters to them in the slightest way: don't you want to spark the same feelings in others that motivated you to create it in the first place?