“Pity doesn’t pay the bills.”

I heard an expression long ago, forgetting where exactly, that pity doesn’t pay the bills.

While some express pity with sincerity, other’s can’t help but seek it out like a drug that validates their ego.

Unless you’re running a fundraiser, constantly seeking out pity is like being a black hole, always absorbing and taking and never giving or sharing.

If you have an eye for it and can peel back the layers behind the intent, posts on social media with the theme of pity are somewhat common.

I’ve returned to LinkedIn for the third time in my life to see what all the fuss is about again, and I’m noticing four types of posts:

Cool engineering, art, and innovative tech videos.

Thank you, I got promoted, and I’m looking for work.

How-to tutorials and infographics.

And pity posts masquerading as thoughtful insights.

The one post that led me to write this claimed that being a creative is harder than ever or whatever waste-of-time, humbug nonsense they decided to write.

Wanting to reply to it, I stopped, wrote some notes and reserved them for here.

Yeah, this my ‘safe space,’ though I haven’t the energy to argue with strangers on the internet.

What I wanted to write on that lady’s post was:

Things aren’t hard; they’re simply new.

Once they become old, they become easy.

Nothing in life is hard, per say—you just don’t know enough about it.

Some may call it a blessing, others a curse, though with creative endeavors, rarely are projects and thought processes linear.

It is this uncertainty of direction, creation and success that makes the creative journey feel hard.

I experience this hard feeling too, though I’ve learned how to row my way through this unpleasant hum.

If whatever you’re doing feels hard, you more than likely just don’t know enough or haven’t asked enough questions.

Once you do this, jot down everything you’re thinking as notes and the next steps become simpler.

Know this, and I’m sure you’ll find a way.

You always did, do and will do.

The only way though it is through it.

So reserve your pity for more serious matters; clicks, likes, and shares aren’t that serious.

Then again, pity can be a drug, and lord knows it’s easier said than done to try and quit.

But, I digress.

— George