Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.

-Albert Einstein

Sometimes, people’s creative flights are hampered temporarily or permanently by by criticism from others. Because creativity is largely an internal process, the external stages that are then reached when sharing work that had emanated from a source that had been largely personal to a product that is now public, can often be harrowing. When creative individuals find themselves in the spotlight, it can cause them, sometimes, to hover directionless for long periods of time unable to then find the right way – which had always been their own way. Some people might actually give up entirely. Others, though, continue to fly upwards in search of their creative originality, quite able to ignore the unexpected and unsolicited criticism. Creativity is risky; you take chances when you share your creative output with others.

Moving from the safety of one’s own creative theater into one that is public, certainly can be daunting. It often feels much safer to create alone than to face the judgment of the public. Yet, we need the public and we rely on their appreciation and reinforcement of what we do. We can also learn from reviews of our work. We have to consider who the critics are, however. What are their motivations? Are they simply Hunch Crunchers?

“How do you crunch anybody? It is, actually, far too easy to demoralize a person. Most people have felt humiliated at some point in their lives, often a consequence of the actions of those who need to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others. Fortunately, most people are resilient and are able to withstand any long term ill effects. (HAVE YOU EVER HAD A HUNCH? The Importance of Creative Thinking)

If we truly believe in what we do and trust out own hunches, we should be able to withstand even the harshest of criticism and daunting public examinations – even when self-doubt suddenly creeps in as it does with Spunktaneous, for example, in THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, during his test for Sparkhood….

Justgimious: Describe in twenty shadesecs how Sparks form a color-tight alliance.”

Spunktaneous: “Well, they can…

Spunktaneous lost his concentration because he suddenly felt the presence of the Drooma and heard them say:

WRONG! HA! WRONNNNNNNNGGGGGGG, SPUNKTANEOUS!”