The problem with being a songwriter is you’re likely insecure and sensitive.
That’s why you’ve chosen to spend hours alone expressing your feelings while your peers are at the football game.
You might think this is a personality flaw, but it will be a superpower later in life.
Do we really need songs written by insensitive bullies?
No.
We need them written by you—someone who stares out the window for unreasonable lengths of time, thinking about what a person said to you in passing and what they meant.
What will help you is getting used to the feeling of rejection.
In a parenting book I’m reading, the author talks about practicing disappointment with your kids.
For example, before opening birthday gifts, you practice being disappointed that the gift wasn’t what you wanted.
Come on, let’s pretend right now: You just opened the gift and it was socks.
Whaaa, boo, hiss, cry.
Good.
Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s open presents.
This works before you release your next song, too.
Imagine nobody says anything.
Imagine one person notices—and they don’t like it.
Imagine someone tells you it sounds like you copied somebody else.
And now you feel like a loser and an imposter.
Go ahead and practice feeling all that stuff.
Why?
Because it makes getting rejected a little easier.
So many of your ideas—your art, all of it—will not be met with loving arms.
Let me tell you a secret: every time I send out this newsletter or write a blog post, I have to do the same.
Do you know why part of me writes this newsletter?
To experience the rejection.
I’m not a glutton for punishment—I’m just trying to build up a few callouses on my heart, so I don’t take everything so personally.
You’re doing great. You really are.
The fact that you’re making stuff?
That’s hard to do.
Now comes the even harder part: sharing it and releasing control of what anyone else will think.
But you can do it.
Get some rejection under your belt, and it won’t hurt so bad next time.
Or avoid the pain entirely by refraining from sharing anything important to you with the world.
Wouldn’t that feel even worse?