I see people I know trying to figure out what it'd take to like themselves, framing it in terms of what they'd have to accomplish. That trick *never works*. You get a couple months of self-satisfaction at best, then you're back to normal.

I'm a pretty happy, chill person. But that was true before I had any success as an artist. That makes me a significant outlier -- the story of the successful artist driven by trying to alleviate their self-loathing is seemingly ubiquitous.

And even the successful artists an still miserable! In the vast majority of cases, the way to start to like yourself is to change how you feel, not who you are. Disconnect your sense of self worth from your accomplishments.

I'm convinced that everyone successful is as miserable as successful artists, except part of seeming successful in most fields is projecting an air of contentment. Only in art is being miserable seen a selling point.

This is the cost we pay for living in a culture that so deeply lionizes the "great man." Millions miserable because they're not as great as their heroes. Those heroes? Miserable because they're not even greater.

But does this tradeoff make the art better? I mean, maybe? Having grown up listening to music made by a community of a couple hundred people, alongside pop music that the world has decided is the best music, I can't really say I enjoyed one more than the other.