We are surrounded by the greats.
The super talented. The mega impressive, the high-level, the best of the best. They're everywhere. On our Instagram feeds, being shared endlessly on Facebook, performing shows in our hometowns. For those of us still in process (hello!) it can be really defeating to watch from a distance. It makes you want to put down the pen, the paintbrush, the computer mouse - whichever creative instrument you prefer - and just walk away from what you're trying to create forever.
Why bother, when someone else is so much better?
I feel like I should introduce myself. Hi. I'm Angela. I'm a 23 year old radio personality and all of my achievements combined can't keep me from feeling like an utter failure in the light of my newsfeed, an endless highlight reel of the super talented.
You don't even have to log into Facebook to be hit with it. Pursuing acting? Watch your favorite movie. Be devastated by the chasm between the skill of your favorite actors and your own. Want to be a writer? Read anything by Ernest Hemingway. Talented people have a way of making the rest of us feel like chopped liver. We wonder what place our voice could have next to theirs.
Allow me to assure you: your voice matters. The world needs it. You offer something to the universe no one else can offer. If you don't speak, if you don't create, the world is worse off. Not better.
Recognizing this as true comes down to the value you place on the individual. Do you think each person matters? Do you think each person brings something intangible into the world just by existing, something that wouldn't be there if they didn't exist?
Many of us watched "13 Reasons Why." We all had opinions, but we all felt the same way about Hannah. We wish she wouldn't have taken her life. We wish she would have known her value.
Don't tell me your voice doesn't matter.
Poems remain unwritten if you don't write. Songs will stay unsung. The world needs your voice.
As one of my favorite poets, Walt Whitman says in his poem "O Me! O Life!"
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
About Angela
A self-proclaimed "overdramatic weirdo," Angela loves connecting with people (and often embarrassing herself) live on the radio. Some call her a hipster. Others just don't know what to call her. She is recent graduate of Cedarville University with a degree in Broadcasting and background in music business. All it takes is a mention of music, coffee or traveling to get her excited.