When I sit down to record my podcast each week I always ask myself, “What have I been obsessed with this week?” Like, what has been occupying my thoughts the most. Partially because *crosses fingers* I think people will find it interesting and partially because recording helps me work through whatever it is. Don’t get me wrong, writing helps me get through anything, but there’s something cathartic about talking through it.
This week is no exception.
Is anyone feeling misunderstood? –Raises hand
Me, I am. I’ve been feeling misunderstood a lot lately. To be completely honest I’ve lived on the island of misunderstood toys for as long as I can remember. I mean, who hasn’t had a misunderstood phase. We’ve all locked ourselves away blasting Simple Plans Perfect to get through any growing pains.
But sometimes we have to be adults and put the CDs on pause.
I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person and I’ve learned better ways to handle misunderstandings. Being in your twenties, especially your mid-twenties, has a lot of pressures. There are some that are self-set and others that are societal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not where I thought I would be and that’s okay. Life happens, but that does leave room for judgment.
My professional life takes most of the blows. People don’t understand what I’m doing with it and why I’m so focused on creating content. It’s understandable. Not everyone is familiar with the industry of my dreams, but that doesn’t give someone an excuse to be rude about it.
In my opinion, misunderstandings stem from lack of knowledge. How can we understand something that we don’t know? I’ll answer that; we can’t.
Misunderstanding is going to happen. There is no way we can all know everything. Unless you’re Ozymandias then in which case I’m wrong and I apologize.
I want to be a journalist. I want to be a reporter. I want to be the next Bob Woodward, Anderson Cooper, Diane Sawyer insert favorite reporter here. That’s all I’ve wanted. I have a degree in communications with focuses in multimedia journalism and broadcasting. I also have a degree in creative writing and a minor in English. What I don’t have is the experience that companies crave.
So, what did I do? I decided I needed to be self-sufficient. My incessant need to be independent took over and I started this blog. I wanted to get my work out there. I wanted a place where I could create everything my heart desired, but I didn’t want to keep it all to myself. I wanted to create a name for myself. What pairs nicely with a blog? An Instagram of course! It became a way to interact and share another creative side of me. Did I stop there? Of course not! So, I moved to podcasting to share even more.
What people continuously misunderstand is the importance of all of it. They see what I’m doing; all the effort I pour into all of it. What they take away is somewhat of a joke. They think yeah you’re posting pictures, writing a few pieces, and talking into a microphone once a week, but when are you going to get serious?
For the record, I am serious. I’m very serious and very passionate about what I do. This is the first time I spend my days doing things that I’m passionate about and my heart is filled with joy.
Instead of talking with me about all of the things I do people just pass judgment. If they asked why I do what I do the answer would be simple: I do what I do because I’m passionate about it. I do what I do to build myself up and show what I can do. I’m generating content and trying to establish a following. This is how I’m gaining my experience.
But this comes back to my point about learning. If you’re not willing to learn about the things you misunderstand then you don’t deserve to pass judgment.
We don’t just misunderstand each other. There are plenty of things in this world that we misunderstand. A lot of the time it’s because we don’t know any better.
This is a crucial time in our history. This is where we can all accept that there are things we don’t understand because accepting is the first step. Once we accept that we can learn. We can learn from those who feel misunderstood and those who feel misunderstood can finally feel heard.
I’m a firm believer that you’re never done learning. It doesn’t matter how much time you’ve spent in school or if you’re currently enrolled. There will always be something that you can learn.
I’m excited to keep learning.
I hope all of you reading this feel understood and if you don’t I hope you know that you have the power to make them understand. But if someone doesn’t want to take the time to understand you then they don’t deserve your time.
We’re all going to be educators in our own right. Never forget it!
~This is dedicated to all my fellow island of misunderstood toys xx
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