You do not need to believe what you do is valuable. That’s capitalism talking, infesting your head.
For the vast majority of us, we are imminently replaceable at the drop of a hat. We aren’t the special unique and individually “important” people we imagined ourselves to be.
There are 8.5b of us! How could we be? We aren’t special, we will be replaced when we’re gone. That’s OK!
If we can be replaced when we are gone, we can replace “work” while we are still here too.
Do you not have values, and evaluate the things you might choose to do, by light of those? Do you not seek local importance, and meaning, as you strive to do your best by those values?
Here I'm deliberately conflating (1) monetary value and self-worth, (2) social status and emotional importance. I do this to annoy you, but also because I think it's somewhat correct. Cash is hard-earned, so persuading somebody to give you some cash for your art does indeed signify that they care about it, just the same as if they had run a mile in order to collect it: and social status, if it means genuinely mattering to other people for good reasons, is likely to be part of what matters to you in your heart.
You do not need to believe what you do is valuable. That’s capitalism talking, infesting your head.
For the vast majority of us, we are imminently replaceable at the drop of a hat. We aren’t the special unique and individually “important” people we imagined ourselves to be.
There are 8.5b of us! How could we be? We aren’t special, we will be replaced when we’re gone. That’s OK!
If we can be replaced when we are gone, we can replace “work” while we are still here too.