Fall seven times, rise eight times
IF you fear criticism and are afraid of people ripping your work apart, stop calling yourself an artist and look for a comfy desk job in town.
Art is not for softies!
Being an artist means being constantly criticised, having people look at your work under a microscope.
Whether good or bad, you have to learn to take the punches and roll with them.
Criticism can instill fear as an artist gets scared to put their work out there.
Some people are dissuaded from even starting to create anything because of the fear of failure.
But success comes from courageous acts and having thick skin.
This industry is not for cry babies we fall, we rise - that's how the game goes! It's a constant fight.
Artists who take constructive feedback personally will suffer throughout their careers.
They convince themselves they are not ready to put their work in the public eye and give up. Rather than becoming stronger from the experience, fear weakens them.
Artists are disempowering themselves when they give up control of their self-esteem to a third-party.
They need to understand that 'judges' are people who have their own feelings and responses to somebody's work.
Whether it's personal or not, making a judgement on the basis of another person's feelings is not a move that will push any career in the right direction.
For artists to remain empowered and in control of their well-being, they have to emotionally disconnect from negativity - that way criticism will build rather than destroy them.
Every artist needs to distinguish between what he/she can control and what they can't. Once they distinguish that, they start making the right decisions.
They must let go of what they can't control to enjoy peace of mind and focus on the creative process.
Once they have gotten over their fear, they will have the power to improve their art, to work smart, and to learn new things.
However, the only way to fall and rise again is to take it as a learning experience.