An artist friend shared some advice, recently
She said to me
Fifty percent of the people will like your work
And 50% will not.
It’s up to you how you feel about it.
It was a fair statement.
One that I’ve experienced
While selling at shows
Some make a bee line for my booth
Others turn the other way.
Sometimes I overhear people
Saying:
those things creep me out
I’m not everyone’s cup of tea
I’ve embraced that.
I don’t create with others in mind
I just create for me.
Recently I was at a family gathering
A party that happens once a year
A collection of people
Loosely related
(Like a tiny thread hanging from a baby tooth)
That a gentle pull will easily dislodge.
Near the end of the afternoon
After some polite conversation
And one too many cocktails
I realized I was being heckled.
One person was nursing old wounds
Still angry over some advice I said in the past
Another expressed disapproval
About how I met my husband.
It was not in that gentle way
That you get from siblings
or close friends
It felt like a jab in my side from a broken stick
By a bully in the fourth grade
It was in this moment that I smiled
and thought about the 50-50 rule:
Fifty percent of the people will like you
And 50% will not
And you know what?
The feeling is mutual.