What’s Wrong With Wanting Acknowledgement for Our Work?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be seen. We’re human.
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I will be the first to tell you I have no desire to be famous. The thought alone sends me into the most intense sweats and makes me want to run and hide. I honestly don’t know how celebs do it.
I still get uneasy when pitching major publications because “Oh my God, what if this is the piece that catapults me so far, and I can’t turn back”?
It’s such a funny thing to be a writer. I want to write a bestseller one day, maybe even five, but I don’t want the press that may come with it.
I want people to read my work, but I don’t want them to pay too much attention to me. As writers, we write, and we want the focus to stay on the words we pen, not on us.
I believe artists, regardless of craft — photographers, singers, painters, actors — just want their work to speak for itself.
Recently, this year’s Soul Train Awards took place, and soul singer Ari Lennox was snubbed in the coveted Album of the Year category. This loss was surprising to Lennox, and fans because she released one of the best soul albums of the decade and the award show is supposed to highlight soul music.
Lennox went on what some considered a rant about being ignored by the award show which despite her album, Shea Butter Baby, being the epitome of soulful music.
Personally, I would have loved for Lennox to have taken the award home, but I took more issue with the overall trend I saw in the comments and the overall response to her disappointment.
Actors and singers are rewarded with awards — Oscars, Emmys, Tony’s and Grammy’s for their high achievements, but if they don’t receive these awards, are they allowed to demonstrate human emotions, like frustration and disappointment without judgment?
Is it wrong for an artist of any kind to want acknowledgment for their work?
Sure, there are plenty of actors and singers who have created incredible work, received tons of nominations, to never win a physical reward in their career.
Some will say awards don’t prove one’s worth, and I agree, but I think any artist would be lying if they said they didn’t want acknowledgment for the work they’ve spent years crafting.
I’ve not been writing a long time by any stretch of the imagination, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t want people to read my work.
Yes, I am writing for myself, but a lot of times I think of myself as the vessel in which the words flow for the masses to read.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to be acknowledged for the words that I carefully craft to make a difference to those who read it — even in the slightest of smiles or a shift in perspective.
My friends don’t think I’m crazy for “ranting” or “in my feelings” when I encounter disappointment.
And trust me, I am always ranting, and I don’t feel ashamed because I’m a human being with a full range of emotions and do my best not to hide from the ones that get a bad rap.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be seen and acknowledged. I think it’s actually the very essence of the human experience.
As humans, we should be compassionate and empathetic enough to give people the space to be humans.
To express the full range of our emotions and not just the palatable ones because, yes, it’s exciting to share our wins and accomplishments, but there is courage in sharing our loses.
