Giving Yourself Permission To Create —

Do you find yourself worrying about whether you can post your work to somewhere like Facebook (almost feeling you need permission to do so), and do you then find yourself coming back to Facebook to refresh the page again and again, to see if anyone has “Liked” your work (as if you need those “Likes” to confirm you have permission to feel good about what you created)? …

A Video Post, by Sebastian Michaels

Transcript continued:

It’s SO easy to think we’re all alone in feeling we aren’t good enough … in worrying whether others will, in some mysterious way, “give us permission” to be artists.

If I could give you a gift, it would be the gift of being able to forget all that.

Please hear me: You don’t need permission.

Or if you think you do — OK. Cool. Here you go: I GIVE YOU PERMISSION.

I give you permission to create, to play, to experiment, to take chances, to run risks … and most of all, I give you permission to have FUN with your photography and your art …

I give you permission to experience joy and wonder … and I give you permission to explore this beautiful life we are given and delight in seeing something more of it than most people will ever see.

I give you permission to make ART with all the unique and wonderful talents you have, permission to nurture those talents, and permission to go on to live into the best artistic life you can create for yourself.

There. Permission granted. It’s official now.

But honestly, you just don’t need permission. Not from me, not from anybody. You don’t need anyTHING or anyONE outside of you to somehow justify your work as an artist.

You are your own justification.

So create! Create with abandon. And to hell with what anyone else thinks about it.

Create because you are in love with being a photo-artist and because you delight in seeing the world in your own way.

And for goodness’ sake, feel free to express yourself within our private Awake Facebook Group. This is our haven from all the pessimism and mediocrity of the world outside. HERE you are among friends. HERE you will find artists just like you … and if you step forward, and listen closely, they will whisper Greatness in your ear …

– Sebastian

PS: The image heading this post is that of a statue I never fail to reflect upon when I visit the Biltmore Estate. There’s something so wild and expressive and absolutely uninhibited in it … a bold artistic freedom as ancient as creativity itself. When I stand in front of this statue, I can’t help but feel that NO ONE has a right to dictate what I will or won’t do with my art. Whether anyone is there to look or listen, all that matters is that you sit and play — not for anyone else, but for yourself alone.