When you want to give up.

Let's write this down: working in photography or in any creative career can suck.
You can love and be good at what you do, but there will always be a moment when the phone doesn't ring... or you get a bad review… or nobody cares about you do… and there are no cookies left.

And that, my friends, can seriously bring you down.

I have been in that world for 5 years now. Never full-time. I was either at school, busy moving from one country to another, or making up excuses. Even if I have always managed to find people to team up with and create some images, I now belong to the category of artist who dreams about having their own business while working in a steady job.

I am currently in a cloud of dark thoughts that wants to make me get lost in the middle of Siberia and forget about how much I worked hard for projects that didn't bring me anything (yet..?).

The problem with creative careers is that you have a LOT of people that want to be successful at it. Like me. Like thousands of people I imagine way better than me.

• How many times have I put my heart on the table for a project and then blamed myself afterwards because I found it lame?
• How many times have I been super angry and discouraged when I heard that "Photography is dying anyway, I don't know why I should pay you".
• How many times have I dreamt about starting my own business without having doubts that I am not good enough?

When this happens, giving up seems as good as a comfy bed with a freaking latte. The inspiration has been beat up and kicked out by fear and/or disappointment.

In times like these, it's like an alarm going off and we need to remind ourselves why we have been doing what we're doing and mostly, why we have kept doing it. It is time to face the big ugly monsters with the question marks with questions like: do I need to re-evaluate my projects, dust the old ones off or come up with new ideas? Should I try to find something else that suits me better?

But my biggest monster that has been my shadow for the past few weeks:

Do I really want to be somebody that doesn't try anymore? 

So if you are a photographer, a writer, a designer, a creative career person in any kind, let’s stick together, fight these monsters and slap each other when we think about giving up.

And sometimes, you get that. And that makes everything better.