“Believe in yourself” is one of those contrived platitudes that gets a lot of criticism. And the Internet, for all its platforming of such positivity, is just the place for your efforts at learning a new skill to be compared with the skills of someone who does it for a living.
Honestly, the Internet, and in particular social media, are not a place where mental health fares well. But we can do better.
“OK,” I hear in comment threads, “Just toughen up then. Develop a thicker skin. Some armor, if you will.”
Armor. All right, armor. Sounds right. Except… how well do you perform while wearing armor? Can you learn your moves, barely able to see out of the helmet? Can you become graceful, clanking around in a metal suit? Can you even hear the one voice you need, the one that helps you find your strengths, inside the squeaking, rattling cage you are wearing?
I see this all the time in, of all places, 3D printing forums. Someone designs a solution to a problem and prints it, and ten people will jump in to tell them why they are wrong; they should have done it with cardboard, or metal, or could have bought it cheaper than making it.
There’s a flip side to this coin: helping others believe in themselves as well. You see a friend creating something, find something positive to say. There are already plenty of people out there who will cut them down. Including, probably, the memory of so many people they’ve known over the years who are trapped in their own cages of creative negativity.
(This is not to say you can never be negative. If there’s some part of you that just wants to let someone have it, fine… But save it for damage where damage is due. For purveyors of hatred, of prejudice, for fear mongers and war mongers, for people actively making the world worse.)
Life is short, and the universe is cold and dark. Make it a little brighter and warmer.
georgewiman 