"THE ROOTS KEEP ON GROWING..."
Content Creation Is A Walk In The Park
Which way is the wind blowing?
APRIL 24, 2023
WRITTEN BY
Content creation has become the new, “I have a band.” Where once you would ask someone to, “check out your new song,” or, “come see our show,” you are now more likely to be sharing your latest podcast or commentary. Even a creator such as myself who has found a way to continue making music in this new space can not deny that I see bigger returns when I produce a proper video or supplementary podcast to help promote the release.
As I stepped out of the vehicle this morning with my dogs, I, like most every day, first took account of which way the wind was blowing. The particular park we went to today for a hike is very open with little shelter. It still isn’t very warm where I live and there tends to be a constant north-wind blowing these last few weeks. It is chilly. When you’re doing a loop, and before you return to your car, the direction you set out on can impact your journey. This is especially true when there is a cold wind blowing through. I know this may be a strange metaphor for today’s article, but the more I trudged through the frozen yet muddy ground; jumping over puddles, the more I realized that, “This is a great way to illustrate some points I’ve been thinking about lately…”
With a seemingly-never-ending stream of drama in the online-content-creation realm, I have had nothing, but examples, to mull over. Aside from even those close to me going through some dramatic exchanges with other creators, I am aware that absolutely every creator must endure some form of weirdos coming-at-them to grow into the person they must become to be worth of holding their platform. The figuratively must, “climb up onto the platform they have build for themselves.” Like crabs in a bucket, or rats in a bag, those around them, out of jealousy, fear, inexperience, and weakness must try and pull-down those who wish to make something of themselves. “I am inadequate, and therefor you must be as terrible as I am for me to feel better.” Most can not accept their limitations, or even realize how thin the lane they occupy has become.
With my analogy of a park walk with a wind, I think of these naysayers and saboteurs as elements of this wind. I do not think they are the wind themselves. They are elements within this wind. They are the temperature that makes your skin icy-white on exposure. They are the small bits of ice carried on the breeze that sting, but do not much else. They are an annoyance put there by the wind to impede your path. These annoyances have choses to take the free-ride the wind has given them, thereby negating their own ability to provide any value or creation. These pesky pieces of nothing-at-alls will never go away. The only option is to grow stronger so that they no longer bother you.
JP Sears is a wonderful example of someone who has become stronger than the pieces-of-nothing in the wind. You may, or may not, enjoy his content, but he is in-fact a perfect example of growth and increased-strength. Here is an individual who started off with fairly liberal points-of-view. He presented them in a palatable manner. In time, his growth as a human caused him to reject these soft-serve world views and accept the undeniable truths of reality around him. What was his reward for this growth? The terrorist militia Antifa began to threaten and attack his family. They began to write articles likening him to a “nazi.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? What was his reaction?
For one he stopped engaging with this mentally-ill mob. He spent time growing stronger; both physically and mentally. His new form of content creation saw an exponential growth of active-subscribers and community members. JP Sears faced off against the wind and won. He has become addicted to the state-of-winning and continues to seek growth and strength. So what is the wind?
The wind, as a metaphor in my story, is hard to explain exactly. It is many things. It is the societal pressures which have been fomented by careful strategies through manipulation of the media. It seeps its way into the mind of the weak; those who will only ever be annoyances. It carries these softlings along. It fools them into a sense of purpose. It has them believe that if they ride along with the wind, they will be rewarded with what they aspire to be. Unfortunately, people who choose this path of riding-along-with-the-wind, or more plainly: going along to get by, have no real aspirations. They only hold the aspirations that the wind tells them to have. They want to agree with the narrative. They don’t want to stop the wind. If they get in the way of where the wind is blowing, then they, themselves, will have no purpose. Their only purpose is to go where someone else tells them to go.
So you’re at the park. You get out. You feel the way the wind is blowing on your face. It’s cold. It stings. Which way do you choose?
Do you walk with the wind? You know you’ll have to walk into the wind to return, right? It is easier now though… yes… this is true. The easy way; the path of no resistance: does this make you stronger? You’re going to be out of energy when you get halfway through your walk, and now you’re going to have to walk into the wind. Did you account for that? Or were you only thinking of how you felt in the moment; how you didn’t want to disrupt the route of the wind because it would have been painful and difficult. When it’s time to turn around and complete your journey will you even have the energy to do so? It’s going to be a painful walk back. Perhaps you would prefer just floating away on the breeze and becoming a piece of nothing floating on the breeze. At least it isn’t going to hurt right? The wind isn’t going to, “call you a bad name.” Fly away and never be heard from again.
Maybe you walked with the wind and halfway through your journey, sapped of energy, you realize that you have a lot of ground to make up now. You can come back. It is going to be painful. Probably a bit more painful, but the growth you experience through enduring this pain will make walking into the wind a little less painful next time.
Walking into the wind might seem bad at first, but with time you might encounter a bend that gives you a quick reprieve. You might encounter a change in the wind, even though the prevailing direction will still dominate the majority of your journey. You’re going to eventually come to that turn though; that sweet sweet turn when all the pain you’ve endured; all the stinging and shaking… it’s going to be behind you. Some of it is even going to help push you down your journey further. You didn’t go with the wind. You faced it head on and won. The walk back is going to be that much sweeter.
The thing is: when you have dogs you’re going to take them to the park a lot. You should if you don’t… Those first few trips: you might walk with the wind. You might even need to learn the lay of the land to know which way is better so that your journey ends up more pleasant. Everyone who makes content needs to learn some battles. They need to face some stinging. If they aren’t facing adversity, or if they give-up on themselves, they are just going to become another part of the breeze. Just something else that gets in the way for people who are brave enough to walk into the wind.
Learn your lesson and be brave. Struggle now into the wind, and come back stronger.
Life is not to be a simple walk in the park. You must pass obstacles. You must grow stronger to push through these obstacles. If you don’t, you will fade away never having faced off against the wind.
Content creation is a walk in the park.
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