Throwing Pasta

Today I experienced another “unsuccessful launch”, although the term unsuccessful is debatable depending on where you’re sitting and what you deem as a success.

I used to only accept my accomplishments as successes if they a) hit my financial goals and b) hit my quantity goals. That was literally it. All I cared about was numbers and money, which are important, but certainly not everything.

After nearly 2.5 years in business, I have learnt a thing or two. Firstly, that we can’t measure our successes against others, and often our own archaic expectations. Also, what does success mean to us? Do we even know what feeling successful is like, or are we just measuring up against industry giants and those a hundred steps further than we are?

I ask this today because I just closed the cart on an express launch for some art prints. Art prints that I thought would do really well, based on the feedback and requests for literally months, saying I should turn my quotes and musings into prints.

Well I did, and only two people bought them.

Viv from a year ago would’ve been really distraught by this. Hell, Viv from six months ago would’ve been guttered too. But somewhere along the line, I’ve learn resilience and surrender when it comes to throwing my art into the world.

My favourite way to think of sharing our art with the world is like throwing pasta at the wall to see if it sticks. If the art sticks, it means that it’s found the right people at the right time, and it’s connected how you wanted it to. If it splats onto the bench, it’s still art, and still important, but isn’t ready to be received yet. Or, you’ve laid down the foundations to try again later.

Each piece of art I share with the world is a piece of pasta, pulled from the boiling pot of ideas that I lovingly bring to life, and thrown into the void with high hopes. It is let go, in every meaning of the phrase, and it does not change depending on how it’s received. The art still remains as it was, a great creation that you were proud of and happy with, regardless of what everyone else says and/or reacts to it.

Knowing this, and remembering it often, has made instances like today effortless and not a big deal. I don’t feel any kind of emotion attached to this launch. I did my best, I shared my art, I offered it to others to invest in, and I left it up to the Universe to decide the outcome.

Sure, I could’ve been louder and posted again and again and again, but I decided from the get go how much energy I was willing to put into this project, and I used up that energy and felt good about the end result.

I am still immensely proud of myself for trying. For putting my art out there with vulnerability and joy, knowing that I can’t control the outcome, only how I feel about the project.

And I invite you to do the same. Once we make peace with how our art may or may not be received, it gets a hellova lot easier to create and share consistency. As long as you’re happy with what you’re creating, that’s all that matters.

Love, Viv

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash