The Soul Sucking Conveyor Belt of Industry Run Creativity, and My Thoughts

Struggling a bit at the moment.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry there haven’t been videos for a bit. My mental health is really bad.

I’m so sorry. I’ve been struggling with burnout.

I just can’t bring myself to post.

Depression.

Anxiety.

I’m retiring.

I’m tired.

I quit…

Any of us who have been around the Internet for a substantial amount of time have seen videos or posts with some combination of these words from a creator we’ve loved. Typically, if you have a scroll through their comment section you’ll see an outpouring of support.

We love you.

Your health comes first.

Please don’t apologize.

We understand.

Take all the time you need. We’ll be here when you come back.

But the algorithm doesn’t care about any of them. The algorithm doesn’t care that your favorite creator is falling apart at the seams. The algorithm doesn’t care how much you love them. The soul-sucking conveyor belt of industry-run creativity wants more more more more this world devouring monster of epic proportions yawns wide with a gaping malice and screams I WANT MORE. CREATE MORE. DO MORE. You lazy worthless sack of human waste why aren’t you CREATING why won’t you just KEEP GOING. There is money to make, there is product to sell, there is media for the little empty-headed children to swallow up and green green green from their parents’ pockets to collect. So get back to your desk and type, record, smile, always smile and do what you were made to do.

And when you’re washed up and depressed and you hate everything about your life and this world and everything you see has gone grey…

Well then we don’t need you anymore and you should fade into the background, just another shell of a human to be replaced.

Next, who’s next, step forward please.

Create for us so that we can live the dream…

But creating isn’t a conveyor belt. It isn’t a machine. It can’t be slapped into a box with a neat pretty little sticker and sold by the millions to the masses.

It hurts. It feels like your soul is being gripped and ripped straight out of your body and laid bare on a screen. For everyone to see. It’s beauty and pain and struggle and fear and joy and pride and anger and frustration and agony and exaltation.

And climbing to the top of the mountain that is your own creativity is a grueling journey. And once you get there you’ve got to balance on the very top on your toetips and pray that the 100 mile per hour winds of BURNOUT don’t send you toppling to your death.

Because you see creativity isn’t a conveyor belt. It isn’t a machine. It can’t be slapped into a box with a neat pretty little sticker and sold by the millions to the masses.

But I may have told a lie.

Because it can be done, you can make it work. You can create every single day and bleed yourself dry and go to bed every night having given 110% for years at a time.

But when you don’t take breaks, when you treat your creativity like a conveyor belt, like a machine, slapped into a box with a neat pretty little sticker and sold by the millions to the masses…

You’ll hit a wall eventually. And you’ll sit down at your desk or in front of your camera or behind a page and you won’t be able to produce a. single. thing.

And even though you know your audience is there and they support you, you also feel guilt. Guilt that they have supplied you with your life in exchange for something. This isn’t a charity. You aren’t in it for donations. You’re supplying a product in exchange for themselves. For their time and money and love you produce them content and you just… can’t… anymore.

And as if that guilt wasn’t heavy enough the algorithm doesn’t see your value if you can’t…

If you can’t treat your creativity like a conveyor belt, a machine, that can be slapped into a box with a neat pretty little sticker and sold by the millions to the masses.

So they push you aside. Make way for the NEXT BIG THING. THIS person can create. THIS person is better. THIS person matters more than you ever did at the height of your creative extremes.

And so in this world of piles of the drained corpses of creatives… Make sure you stop.

Make sure you don’t treat your creativity like a conveyor belt, like a machine, slapped into a box with a neat pretty little sticker and sold by the millions to the masses.

Take time to live your life. Take time to try something new. Take time for yourself. Be kind to yourself. Because that algorithm never will.

Dance in the rain and paint badly and take an afternoon nap. Eat good food and give a long hug to a pet or someone else you love.

Don’t let this monster with its gnashing teeth tell you that your creativity can be turned into a conveyor belt… a machine…

You aren’t a machine. You’re a person. A soul. You are loved. And you’ll be able to create again.

Because the thing they don’t tell you is that you can heal. A creative never truly dies. We’ll always feel the urge to bare our souls again someday. Chin up.

We love you.

Your health comes first.

Please don’t apologize.

We understand.

Take all the time you need. We’ll be here when you come back.