Because Rubbish Is Better Than Silence
I got a negative comment on my Ordinary Holy Facebook page the other day, one that I promptly deleted. It was one of the first comments I’ve ever received there, either negative or positive, so that made it noteworthy. It was in response to a photo I posted while wandering up cemetery hill on a beautiful, cloudy, after the rain kind of morning last week :
the Offending Photograph
I was feeling poetic and happy. I was also trying to meet my goal of posting a few photos a week on my social media accounts (Doesn’t that sound fancy? Like I am dedicated enough to run multiple accounts?) I actually just have to post to Instagram, though, and the photos automatically go to Facebook, too. My accounts are linked, and it’s easier for me to post on Instagram for some reason. In fact, I often forget that my Instagram pictures end up on Facebook at all.
Fifteen people “liked” my photo on Instagram.
(See what an influencer I am!)
Twenty three people were “reached” on Facebook (whatever that means).
But not everyone was happy about it.
I received an email later that day that said there was a comment on my Ordinary Holy Facebook page.
Good news, I thought! Someone saw my photo and took the time to comment!
Not so much.
“Why am I getting this rubbish?” it asked.
Ooof.
To be fair, I had doubts about the post myself.
First, some background: I noticed on my walk (that I have done 100 times) that the wood fence on the side of the street (that I have seen 100 times) was broken up by stately trees, grand beauties that acted as the fence’s framework. I was feeling very Mary Oliver-like and quickly wrote and posted, “Do you think it bothers a tree to be part of a fence made of wood? To be an anchor there? This tree seems healthy enough, growing tall, surrounded by others who are also anchors for the fence. Still, I wonder if it’s a little sad, if it holds the trees that were cut for the fence close to its heart. If it knows and remembers them.”
I know. It was a little strange.
“Rubbish” seems a bit harsh, though.
No matter.
The wise Seth Godin warns people to “never read your Amazon book reviews.”
I don’t have a book on Amazon (yet), but hopefully I will someday. Seth gives great advice. My job is to show up and do the work, the best that I can in the time that I have. Maybe that means posting a dopey Instagram photo. Maybe that means writing and sharing a blog piece that is not the “best,” that could be more polished if I spent hours on it. But those are hours that I don’t have. Like right now! Even this, today. This is the post I have for the time I can spend. Because today is a beautiful day, and I have been sitting at the computer for too long, and there is still time to go for another walk around the cemetery loop, to see what I can see, perhaps to even take and share another “rubbishy” photo or two.
So here’s to posting pictures and showing up, for writing even a little once a week, and for sharing it just as it is. Whoever said that it has to be good? Whoever said that it can’t be rubbish? Because rubbish is better than silence. Rubbish is at least something to work with. Rubbish is a beginning. And rubbish can be revised, and tweaked, and edited, and someday, it might even morph into something beautiful. Maybe not today. Maybe not that post, or this one. But I can honor the small beginning, honor the rubbish, and do what I can with what I have, which somehow, for today, will be enough.
1 Comment
As an artist for over 30 years, I have learned to handle feedback in the following ways:
1. If the work is a professional job, I listen to those who are involved the work, (mostly the client, and if I need feedback, the opinion of fellow artists). I then acknowledge the comments, but ultimately I incorporate only those comments that carry on the intent of the work.
2. If showing your work in public, it can be a whole new ballgame. Most people can only view your work through the lens of themselves. and you never know what kind of lens they are using. Often people view your work only in how it relates to themselves. And if they are a negative person, likely it will be a negative interpretation. In contrast, others are able to view your work as separate from themselves and see you as an individual like themselves who produces work. That means they take you, as a person, in account in the response to your work. Their feedback tends to be nuanced, and offer explanations. In these individuals’ feedback, especially if it is negative, they explain with reasonable explanations as to why it is not working for them.
If anyone responded to the work I have published on facebook with a simple, “Why am I getting this rubbish?” I would assume two things:
1. My post is somehow in the feed of someone who does not like or want it, (so they need to work on their feed parameters, but do not know how to fix that and are instead lashing out at me.), or
2. They visited my site, hated my work and felt they needed to let me know they hated it. They offer no reason as to why, so the comment becomes abstract to me. I cannot attach anything to it since it is nebulous. Not only that, but they are not considering me. Their effort is not to help me become a better artist, but validate their own opinion. My work has become a vehicle to whatever is going on inside of themselves. I have no idea what that struggle is, but its manifestation is a comment that makes them sound like a jerk. Ultimately it has nothing to do with me.
So in summation, I value the opinions of the people who see me when they see my work. Keep in mind, it taken me over 30 years to formulate this approach, (I was a wreck when I was younger after any bad review).