Don’t Call Me a “Content Creator”

“You may not be a Picasso or Mozart but you don’t have to be. Just create to create. Create to remind yourself you’re still alive. Make stuff to inspire others to make something too. Create to learn a bit more about yourself.” -Frederick Terral

I planned to make a video project for my 21st birthday, similar to the multimedia project XX. I did last year for my 20th. I had a vision for the video, loose talking points (I even booked a room at a local coworking space to film) and hoped it would turn out to be a meaningful reflection piece. I followed through with recording (which I’m proud of myself for doing as opposed to allowing self-doubt to change my mind before I’d even tried) but the result I got was disappointing.

It’s not so much that the video was bad. There were definitely (somewhat) usable parts…but I just wasn’t excited about it. And when it comes to my work (or life, for that matter) I just can’t put energy behind things I don’t fully believe in with my whole being. My intuition was telling me this project wasn’t necessary for me to make, that I didn’t need to further publish and romanticize the most emotionally vulnerable year of my life, and that I should instead be mindful and present in celebrating myself on my day.

After shutting down my blog in Q1 of this year and opting for a cleaner personal website and this Medium page, I realized that operating within the label of “content creator” started to become a crutch for me. The foundation of my personal brand was centered on packaging my lived experience into palatable pieces of content. The root of which, I later realized, was really to absolve myself of the real-life work necessary to create the life I want, instead of using all my energy to portray the idea of that life.

I’ve since established a process to check my intentions with every idea before executing them: Do I have something substantive to impart on my audience that will inform, inspire, or empower? Am I just really in the zone creatively and want to execute something dope? Who is listening to me and what do I want to say to them? These questions have helped me to become more deliberate and strategic with how I use my voice in the era of the “influencer.”

Moving forward, I no longer wish to contribute surface level content to an already noisy and chaotic world, nor do I wish to perpetuate a culture of people who talk just to talk and who take up space (digitally or otherwise) without really thinking about their message as well as the energy and intention behind it.

Finally — and this was a point that opened a very real wound and subsequent chapter of healing — I don’t want to create rushed or forced content to satiate my ego’s desire to be seen and feel important. I had to come to truly believe that I am enough and that my voice is powerful and needed, with or without the label of “content creator.”

I hope to create content that speaks to and awakens people’s highest selves. Content that allows people to view the world and the human beings who inhabit it with more compassion, love, and lightness. Content that evokes people to demand more from themselves and the world around them. Content that requires me to be thoughtful and thorough. And, most importantly, content that I simply have fun making.

The overarching principle of this journey is that you are not required to stick with what you’ve always done simply because you’ve always done it. Especially as a creative, allow room for evolution, pivots, redos, and “neverminds.” And create more of what your authentic self is leading you to create. Nothing more and nothing less.

-kf