With Art. Be Vulnerable or Invisible. You Have a Choice.

It’s easy to stay hidden in our opinions, in our social lives, but especially in our personal work. If we don’t show our work to the world, the world moves on. There’s no consequence. No criticism to deal with. So we tuck our work away from the world. We chose to remain invisible over vulnerable.

If you’ve never been a fan of The Lord of the Rings, then congratulations, you were probably cool in high school and didn’t have to talk to girls primarily on AOL Instant Messenger because the thought of a phone call made you pee your pants. I’ll quickly explain the premise. There’s a powerful ring that a bad guy wants, but the good guys want to keep this ring from him. The bad guy will stop at nothing to get the ring back, and the good guys realize that the only way to stop the bad guy is to destroy the ring in a volcano really, really far away. A tiny person named Frodo speaks up and says, “I’ll do it.” His adventure progresses with many challenges. The ring gives him the supernatural power to be invisible, but it is also an extreme burden for him to carry. He is tired and ready to be finished with this adventure.

At the end of this epic tale, after Frodo has spent the entire adventure trying to get The Ring of Power to Mt. Doom to destroy it, there’s a conflicting moment. This whole journey has led up to this one task. All he has to do is drop the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom and he defeats the evil Sauron. But the ring has become a part of him. As much pain as the ring has caused him, it has also become familiar. Comforting. After much goading from his traveling companion, Samwise, to “Throw it in the fire!” he finally turns from the fires and says, “No; it’s mine.”

That line gets me every time. Why wouldn’t he just send it away? What caused him to hold on to it? My theory is that he found comfort in the power the ring gave him to be invisible. He didn’t have to face the world; he could hide away in a dark place. Sure, the dark places had their own discomforts, but maybe it was better than living in a harsh world where Trolls, Giant Spiders, and Orcs were always hunting you.

I think that’s why we hold onto our personal projects when we finish. Why not just enjoy it for ourselves? Why release our work into the real world where it will be picked apart, torn to shreds, and criticized for every imperfection? That’s why we hold on to our work. After all, being invisible is much better than being vulnerable. 

I had a really difficult time with the thought of our older daughter starting kindergarten. Kids are mean, and she’s very sensitive. Why subject her to the world? Why not just hide her away and not expose her to what oftentimes can be a cruel world? I found the answer one day when my daughter decided to make a nice thank-you card for our waitress. When Maci gave the waitress the card, the waitress’s mood instantly changed. Maci was a blessing in her day. That’s when I realized that I would be selfish to keep this awesome little person to myself. She was made to make the world better, and she does. When she goes to school, the majority of the kids perk up and yell, “HI MACI!” Her presence adds value in their lives.

Your work is your child. It’s young, vulnerable, and the world can break it. But if this is where the thoughts about your work stop, you are dead wrong. Your work has the ability to heal, to delight, to connect, to speak truth, to insight incidences. Releasing your work to the world doesn’t guarantee it won’t be torn to shreds and in turn, tear you apart, but not releasing it 100% guarantees no one will be positively affected.

It’s time to put that little kid on the school bus.