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i used to feel really bad about the idea that writing, doing art, etc. was a way of "consuming" your own experiences. like, i thought somehow it's better to just "take your experiences" raw, as they come, without "using" them for anything...
like, it felt almost "self-manipulative" to transform my experiences into works like the musician or poet does. i didn't want to do that. but that's kind of a bullshit frame.
feels like the desire to want that full immanence of experience comes from some place of weird esoteric Romanticism, where "being in the moment" is the greatest good. but on the other hand, what if the moment sucks?
so if you think about experience instead as "how can i extract the greatest enjoyment/least suffering from this moment?" the answer in a lot of cases is that writing or making art is actually better than "taking it straight".
another fear i had was if i get in the habit of "converting" experiences to work, then i might "lose out" on straightforwardly pleasurable experiences (by applying the same mindset to them). but this also seems like bullshit. has never been borne out in practice for me.
that said i think there is a "trap", where if you're writing with intent to share, you have a conflict between your own goals (emotional release, theoretically) and the readers' goals (to "get something" out of it). how do you win? https://twitter.com/estnihil/status/1347618058886656000
seems like the solution is to "get good", figure out new ways to view your own life and present those ideas. then you can win-win: new perspectives for yourself AND for your audience https://twitter.com/atroyn/status/1347617622502699008
another trap: what if you get stuck in a "life is shit" mindset, just so you can have stuff to write about? many such historical cases.
i think the solution here is being honest about what your goals are. if you wanna improve your life, work on that. fuck the audience.
i think the solution here is being honest about what your goals are. if you wanna improve your life, work on that. fuck the audience.
