Most of us are not going to be Kardashians.
We don't have to worry about the paparazzi. What we do or say is probably not going to go viral.
That means we can experiment in developing our God-given gifts without much pressure.
Still, it's often good to have a little pressure. It's helpful to share our creative work with others.
If we only keep our work to ourselves, it's easy to put it off until later. If no one else will see it anyway, we're often not motivated to develop our craft. If we never share with others, then we miss out on the feedback that could help us get better.
However, if we commit ourselves to sharing things publicly, then it pushes us to practice. Wanting to have something to say or show encourages us to read and get our reps in.
There is a night-and-day difference between commitments we only make to ourselves and those that we share with others.
Those "others" do not have to be particularly numerous, and they will likely soon forget about whatever we share.
But we won't forget about their encouragement and criticism. And that pushes us to get better.
Great post, Fr. Michael! So, I have been writing books for years and nary a one has been taken down the publishing road until recently. After a lot of edits, re-writes, criticism (hard to hear but delivered with love), and rejections, an agent is helping me to prepare the manuscript for publishers. By doing this, I am getting very rigorous feedback and becoming a better writer. Thanks for this, Dan