We all need appreciation and recognition every now and then. For what we do. For who we are. Probably no one is excepted from that human feeling.

As some of you know I write for a Dutch publication Reporters Online that works with independent journalists. I’m grateful that they publish my articles. Sometimes I receive donations and each quarter I have an overview of the royalties in my e-mailbox. These are royalties of the app Blendle. All my articles for Reporters Online you can find on Blendle. For people who don’t know this app yet: Blendle contains a huge collection of (audio) articles from all sorts of magazines and (foreign) newspapers. I find this app very useful. Check it out here.

Of course there’s lots of competition of other writers on Blendle, especially those working for popular publications, but it happened a few times that I saw my article in the daily selection and in the Blendle green future newsletter. And my story about Ibiza’s dolphin woman was once picked as a bedtime story. Every evening Blendle used to send you a bedtime story, mostly feel good stories about travel (unfortunately they don’t do Bedtime stories anymore; things have changed since the French company Cafeyn have taken over). It was such a thankful surprise to see my story there. It has been a while now since one of my articles have been selected in their newsletters.

I mostly share my writings on my blog, on Medium, social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) and since recently Substack to have them out there in the world. 

But lately I wonder why I’m doing this, why I write in general as comments are rare, positive or negative, and people hardly share my articles. I was fully aware of this somewhat uncomfortable feeling when I suddenly received a couple of encouraging comments. And this time it wasn’t by my man, my mother, sister or brother, who are my biggest supporters and often show their appreciation for my articles. I haven’t realised until this very moment that appreciation of one’s work is more important than I ever imagined. Since I need to keep my motivation up and only I can do that, as there’s nobody I’m working for. I noticed it can be hard sometimes.

However, I stopped with sharing my articles on LinkedIn already a while ago as I felt it doesn’t make any sense. The lawyers and people working in the legal sector which are most of my contacts on LinkedIn aren’t interested in my stories, at least there’s no sign of it. No one giving a thumb up or commenting. Also Facebook seems to work much better for other goals (holiday and party photos!) than sharing serious articles, but I still do it.

Despite all, to write while nobody is reading can be still worthwhile. It’s about the writing itself and the joy and satisfaction it brings. Often I think about Henry David Thoreau whose work nobody was interested in during his lifetime (can you believe it?). He published his own book and more than half of his bookshelf was filled with copies of this book that nobody wanted to buy. The famous writer Emerson was his friend, whose work people do wanted to read. Yet, he kept going and believed in his writing. Now most people know Thoreau of his meaningful book Walden and his poignant essay Civil Disobedience.

One of the main reasons why I write is to make sense of this world. Often it’s just therapy. Expressing thoughts and finding arguments. The other night I was awake and negative emotions had a hold on me. I thought I could better quit writing and find a proper job that pays much better. But I do know well that writing articles about topics I care is my work and to me it’s important. I would rather be a poor writer than an unhappy legal professional or whatever.. 

Why I tell you this? I don’t share my disappointment just so you’ll like my stories and ask for your sympathy. It’s just as I realise every human being needs support, appreciation and recognition. The feeling to be seen. Yes, a part of it is ego, but certainly not all. It’s a human desire to feel worthy, to feel what we say does count. We’re not in this world to be dependent of one’s approval, but we can support each other, even if we don’t always agree. To feel supported and loved is what makes us human after all.

I wrote this post summer last year Write While Nobody Cares and it’s all coming back. Sorry if you have to read it again. In case you missed it: maybe you recognize something in it, in your work, in your life.

A good way to deal with these feelings is giving the people around me words of appreciation and support. The people close to me need them too, maybe more than I realise.

Con Amor,

Eva 

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A new page on Reporters Online with all my articles (Dutch) where you – if you wish – can show your support 🙏🏽

https://reportersonline.nl/author/eva-de-vor/