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I used to fully believe my teachers who said you should be working day and night on your art and that nothing else matters. Never take a non-art job, dont sleep until you're ahead and it has taken me YEARS to understand why that is not only damaging but wildly priveleged.
I fully bought it coming out of college and all it got me was bad self esteem and brutal burn out. The disappointmet of not getting a job when you were pulling all nighters and pouring everything into it because I was trained to think hours of work translates directly to "reward"
And when days and weeka of not sleeping and eating and just doing ART didnt IMMEDIATELY pay off with my career launching over night, I was crushed. I just beat myself up over not being good enough or (crazily) not working hard enough. It ruined my relationship with art
You can't have a good long term relationship with your art if you think sacrifice is the goal. I heard that so much in school. Teachers shaming you for having hobbies, acting like if you play a video game you're wasting hours and it's your fault for falling behind
I burned out so hard only a year out of school because I had no ability to pace myself or maintain a healthy relationship with my art. It was all or nothing, and when your self worth is tied to your productivity, low productivity wrecks your self worth.
I often feel like I'm WAY behind some of my peers despite in school and after "working harder". But really I was just working myself into burn out.
Back to the privelege, some people have the financial or life support to just, DO ART and not need to balance several jobs or worry about paying off loans, or are emotionally and physically healthy enough to recover easily from the failures that inevitably happen
The idea of "dont take any jobs that dont further your career" is not POSSIBLE for most of us. It's not good advice. Loans will not wait for your big art break, and neither will your Bill's. Learning how to take care of yourself emotionally and financially while you work-
toward your goals is not only important, but ESSENTIAL.
And after all of it, the real irony is, I've only started to really make traction with my career when I finally learned to love doing art and love taking care of myself. A gentler, more holistic approach to my art and career has given me more opportunities than working myself
sick ever did. It's a toxic, damaging mentality. And disproportionately will burn people of marginalized identities. Because it was NEVER about the work to begin with.
