If you’re a creative, you need company.
Real human company. (Maybe at a company.) You need a professional bestie.
You need at least one person working in your field, at your level, who loves and understands your thing the way you love and understand theirs.
Whatever you’re doing, you’ll do it better. When someone knows your tricks you’ll try harder to impress them. You’ll see your own work more clearly by giving them useful, meaningful critique.
You may collaborate. You may not. Doesn’t matter. You need someone who deeply gets what you’re trying to do as you break through each wave of growth.
I’m here from the future to tell you lone-wolfing suuucks.
You’ll burn out faster, never get challenged in meaningful ways, suffer the losses alone and share none of the victories.
So take some time to network for a connection, not a contact. Make it real. You’ll get the time back a thousand times over.