I have to be honest. I’m not all that fond of making reels.

I think it’s because I don’t know how to do them. It feels hard to work out the lighting (probably cos I like to do them at night or on rainy days, come to think of it…), or the timing, or the shot angle or any variety of other things.

I mean, it’s a whole-ass new skill. Like, let’s get that out of the way. I already feel like I’m navigating a looottt of new skills in deciding to pursue art professionally this year, including learning to draw again, because drawing this frequently means I have to be okay with things that don’t look the way I want them to, 100%.

But Instagram does promote reels for the moment, so I feel like I have to give it a shot at least.

And also I do think part of this is my perfectionism rearing its head again.

Sneaky beast, that. Just when I’ve made a resolution to deal with it, it slithers away into the dark, and pounces only when I’ve forgotten it’s there.

It’s really easy to say, oh, just kick away the perfectionism, Just Do It- and in a sense, it really can be that easy. It is ultimately a decision you make. But I think it’s also a mistake to think that the perfectionism doesn’t sometimes hide fear.

For me, and I’m sure for many others, this perfectionism is a protective mechanism. It’s scary to put out things that you perceive as not your best work. What if people criticise? What if people see ugly work, and tie that to their perception of your worth?

Of course, you shouldn’t necessarily let other people’s opinions sway you about your work, because art is about your own expression, and most people don’t actually know how to critique art properly. They just know to tell you what they like and don’t like- which is a valid opinion on their part, but that doesn’t make it a valid critique at all.

Unless they’re your client and they’re commissioning you, in which case the customer is always right in regards to their taste.

I mean, I guess- what I’m saying is that perfectionism is real and it’s a thing, and you don’t have to feel bad about it. You just kind of have to work through it, and decide what’s important.

For me right now, it’s being consistent and learning to be prolific, so perfectionism unfortunately has to go suck thumbs in the corner.

Also I just wanted to say that the algorithm is really not that important sometimes. The rules around social media platforms change alll the time, so there’s no point in chasing every half-update they make.