Creators, Do You Fear Offending People Or Worry About Showing Up Less Than Perfect?

Two thoughts for 2025 about creating online.

I’m returning to writing and to social media during this new year and I’m really happy to be doing so. In fact, rather excited. However, I’ve noticed a couple of negative thoughts I’ve been having as I take this fresh year on and think about what goals I’d like to achieve. And they’re killing my vibe a little.

Firstly, the rules.

I don’t think people are aware of the negatives of writing certain things. But when I read through Substack Notes (if you’re not sure what Notes is, it’s like Twitter/X but is right here on the Substack platform) I see people writing that they strongly dislike certain topics or things appearing on the app. They don’t like creators writing Substack newsletters/Notes about how to be successful on Substack and how to grow and get paid. They dislike it when people announce they’ve reached a milestone of one hundred, one thousand or one hundred thousand subscribers. They dislike seeing videos in the Notes app (it’s not TikTok, folks!) or they hate certain subjects….the list goes on.

Of course, they have every right to write such things. They’re their thoughts, after all. But I’m just like, there’s room for everyone here. I don’t particularly want to read ‘how to grow on Substack’ articles. So I skip past them. I don’t want to read about politics on this platform, so I skip past those articles and if it’s too much I’ll mute the creator. No disrespect to the creator, it’s simply not for me. Just like I’m sure I’m not for everyone, too (is she banging on about lacking creative confidence and burnout again?!)

There’s room for everyone and anyone to explore their artistic side and to try new things and create whatever they like. But even though I’m saying these things, my brain is also thinking - hmm, better not post my latest vertical video on Substack Notes. Don’t want to annoy people.

But, why the hell shouldn’t I? I LOVE creating videos. I love recording, I love editing and yes - I do get dopamine from uploading them. Why should someone else’s dislikes affect my creativity? It annoys me when I don’t post for fear of offending people. I’ve written before about how someone was once offended because I wasn’t upset enough when one of my chickens died. People can get offended over the most bizarre things and if we thought about all the ways we could offend, we’d never create anything. Or, our writing would be incredibly beige.

So, if you’re feeling the same this new year. IGNORE. And post/create whatever you want. It’s your art. Your thoughts. Your creative journey. Show up and write/create in whatever form suits you. Then share it.

Secondly, showing up perfectly.

The second thing I’ve been thinking about, and which was actually the subject of the first video I created this year, is how I also worry about showing up perfectly. Getting overwhelmed with the shoulds: my niche, the ‘hooks’ in each video, the ‘value’ I’m bringing to the viewer.

For example, on January 1st, I knew I wanted to try and create one video per day for the thirty-one days of January, to share on TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram (I was also going to post on Substack Notes but then I got The Fear as detailed above).

But for a number of days before the 1st I was mildly panicking. What was I going to post about? How do I utilise hooks, what value am I bringing to the table. Until, that is, I remembered (via another TikToker) the wise words of Auston Kleon. Use social media to document your work. In other words, don’t create specifically for social media, but write first then create a video to document your process or progress.

So, as an example, today I’m writing this newsletter and I have my iPhone to the left of my keyboard recording my writing in timelapse mode*. I’ll then take a key message about what I’ve learned and either write text over the top of me typing or do a voiceover. I’m not sure yet but I’ll decide later once I’ve written this. But, I won’t start my day thinking what would make a great video? I’ll write first, then figure out how to document it later.

Obviously, as time goes on I’ll get better at it and set my camera up more to record me doing certain things.

But always, write first.

And most importantly I’ll show up imperfectly. Take the pressure off myself to do things perfectly all of the time. So what if the table wobbles. So what if I say TikTok instead of video (to make it more generic). So what if I don’t look like I’ve stepped out of the covers of Vogue. Post it anyway.

*Edit: I did have my iPhone camera set up to the left of me, but I neglected to press record properly. Now I have to write more simply to create a video!

My first newsletter of the year was going to be a round-up of 2024 - but that’ll come next time. I just wanted to share these thoughts right now incase anyone was going through something similar.

Write the piece, create the video, take a photo. And press publish in order to share it.

Happy New Year!