02. F*ck Imposter Syndrome

Back from the dead with some much needed rage writing!

Hi there,

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The last time I wrote to you, we were grappling with so much uncertainty. And loss seemed the right topic to speak about at the time. Three years have passed in between, and as you start reading Rest My Opinion 2.0, you will see that much like the world around us, this newsletter has grown as well. We are more concise, we are more regular and we absolutely commit to entertaining you.

So, thank you for being here. And let’s get started. 🙂

I started this newsletter in Summer 2020 to be more regular with my writing and share it with the world around me. All this while later, I am still trying to do the same exact thing. 

I love writing. When I put words down on a doc, it fills me up with the purest form of happiness and a sense of absolute peace. But I am also affected by the worst imposter syndrome. That just means I psych myself up to write and then I talk myself down. It leads to feeling overwhelmed and hitting the delete button until I am left with just a blank page.

And that’s exactly how I feel right now.

I want to not write because I am so scared of what you will think about my work, will it make you tick, would you even open this newsletter, would you care about my words or would this just land up in your spam or promotions tab? 

Listen, if you write too, I know you have felt this way as well. Hell, if you make any kind of art, you have been here.

And this is where I want us to think a little differently today. A brilliant artist friend recently told me that if you love something, you should just do it for yourself. 

You know this, you have heard it a hundred times. 

We live in a world that is run by external validation, so however logically sound that advice is, you still want the likes and the reactions, the shares and the comments. 

Would you still be an author if no one bought your book? A painter if no one went to the gallery to see it? A magician if no one believed in your magic?

Fuck this millennial bullshit that we shouldn’t work for validation. The need for validation is hard-wired into our personality. We create art for others because we want the world to see that we are capable of the extraordinary. Just like if my words make sense to you, it makes my day. 

Nothing we create can survive in a void. So, post that photo you took, share that poem you wrote, sell your art, go to the goddamn comedy club and make people laugh from their bellies. Make people sing along to you, make them move to your music.

You are wonderful and talented and magical. So make your art – whatever it is. Put it out into the world and make people fall in love with it.

And look at me, I finished this newsletter. I didn’t hit delete. And now it’s in your inbox for you to read.

If you are still here, do the following –

• Share a friend’s art on your social media today.

• Tell 5 people about a friend whose work you are proud of.

• If your friend has merch, buy it. Wear it out in public. Tell people who made it.

• Buy tickets to their shows, show up at their pop-ups, and hype them up. Yes, ‘be their loudest cheerleader’, you know it.

• Make your own art and tell people about it. You don’t need to hide it. It is good enough.

This week, I am asking you to follow my friend Love Tutto who put up their pop-up shop this weekend and sold their art for profit for the first time! 💞

If you liked reading this newsletter, send it to someone else who would relate to it.

Until next time showing the middle finger to imposter syndrome,

Sanj 🫨