Images are how we view ourselves. Our story of identity. They are powerful. And power can cut in dangerous ways.
On 200WAD the point was to write. To explore ourselves. Our hopes and desires and even fears and pains. We were creating and sharing images of ourselves together. And because we were all well intending we fostered positive images more. We expect the best potential version out of someone because we believe in them. Soon everybody on the site felt like a superhero.
What happens when a positive image becomes too distanced from experienced reality. Maybe the way Baz felt like he was being viewed felt increasingly foreign as his runway ran out. Some days he probably considered expressing vulnerability and sharing that with us through writing.
But maybe that was too hard.
Together we crafted a pretty lofty image. Young wunderkind who figured out how to travel the world while working on their own product. Not having to answer to the man. But as two years passed and he hadn't reached the goals he had staked, maybe this once cool, hip, powerful image started to feel farcical against the backdrop of COVID and all the personal issues he was facing. I wouldn't be surprised if he just didn't feel safe coming out to 200WAD that way.
I think images can be useful in the short term. Have to play a certain part at a party so that everybody has a good time? Go ahead do it! But in the long run you can't just grasp onto images that were formed by older versions of yourself without reflection. I believe the fear of not being accepted to be the number one cause of grasping even tighter to such images.Thus it's important to occasionally look a person in your life in the eye and let them know that it's not their image you cherish. You don't care if they talked a big game about this and that but failed to meet it.
And the thing here is that people in your life won't care that you didn't live up to your image either. The ones who do weren't ever in your life anyways.
--> This is not a post about 200WAD or BAZ. This is not a post about us as in 200WAD. This is a post about us as in people!
On 200WAD the point was to write. To explore ourselves. Our hopes and desires and even fears and pains. We were creating and sharing images of ourselves together. And because we were all well intending we fostered positive images more. We expect the best potential version out of someone because we believe in them. Soon everybody on the site felt like a superhero.
What happens when a positive image becomes too distanced from experienced reality. Maybe the way Baz felt like he was being viewed felt increasingly foreign as his runway ran out. Some days he probably considered expressing vulnerability and sharing that with us through writing.
But maybe that was too hard.
Together we crafted a pretty lofty image. Young wunderkind who figured out how to travel the world while working on their own product. Not having to answer to the man. But as two years passed and he hadn't reached the goals he had staked, maybe this once cool, hip, powerful image started to feel farcical against the backdrop of COVID and all the personal issues he was facing. I wouldn't be surprised if he just didn't feel safe coming out to 200WAD that way.
I think images can be useful in the short term. Have to play a certain part at a party so that everybody has a good time? Go ahead do it! But in the long run you can't just grasp onto images that were formed by older versions of yourself without reflection. I believe the fear of not being accepted to be the number one cause of grasping even tighter to such images.Thus it's important to occasionally look a person in your life in the eye and let them know that it's not their image you cherish. You don't care if they talked a big game about this and that but failed to meet it.
And the thing here is that people in your life won't care that you didn't live up to your image either. The ones who do weren't ever in your life anyways.
--> This is not a post about 200WAD or BAZ. This is not a post about us as in 200WAD. This is a post about us as in people!
