Two days ago, I posted my first in a series of daily written pieces for the coming month. I got a question that I’d like to follow up on. What is a content creator, and why do I want to assume this role?
My name is Daniel and I’m a consumer. Take books for example. My whole life has been a love affair with books. From Astrid Lindgren to the Hardy Boys to Lord of the Rings and Thinking Fast and Slow. I’ve devoured thousands and thousands of pages. Surely not all has been great reads – I’ve dumped a lot of books. Some books kept me up all night – like the Harry Potter series. I simply could not put them down and go to sleep. I remember one morning my mother entered my room to wake me up. I was already awake halfway out the bed, reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At least that’s what she thought; I actually never made it to my pillow the night before having literally spent all night on the edge of my bed reading.
This mode of complete absorption has often been my attitude towards reading, and content consumption in general. Come to think of it, this actually applies to my consumption in general. When I find something that I like, I don’t tend to stop. I’ve enjoyed much of what 3D life has to offer – some might say I’ve had a hedonistic tendency. This is not some sort of bragging; it’s just stating the facts and owning up to it. In full honest, I would rather not have pursued all these tendencies. I think my life would be a richer and more balanced today if I had not let myself go in the drive for more money, drinks, countries, and world wonders. On paper I have done so much, seen it all. My online life is filled with friends from around the world and all walks of life. I would not be without it, but I could. For better and for worse, I count myself luckily to be alive to tell the tale of my life.
What I am getting at here, is that I have generally been a consumer, and a very greedy one at that. I am currently in the process of changing life lanes. I have made a commitment to develop my creative side rather than my consuming side. This commitment is part of my self-work, my soul growth. Ultimately, I feel called to help others grow in meaningful ways, which starts with the self. That’s why I’ve made this calling the foundation of my business offering, and why I’ve started engaging with this writing exercise.
To bring this rambling back to the topic of this text; what is a ‘content creator’ anyways?
To me, a content creator is someone who makes memes, writes text, records videos, etc. An additional quality of content these days is that it’s easy to share and consume. That covers the ‘What and How’. However, the interesting part for me is the ‘Why’. Here I am, writing a piece of text every day. Why? For me, it’s a creative outlet. I’ve been an avid consumer all my life. I have so much perspective, thoughts and experience built up inside. I have a passion to share. So now I am trying out this text thing, because I find it enjoyable and developing. It’s also a way for me to be more vulnerable, as well as getting in the habit of more structured work. I’ve tried writing before, but never committed to it. This is my commitment: Every day for 30 days I will write something that needs to be released. If anything resonates with you, I’d love to hear it. Thank you for your consumption.