I have this post-it note on my fridge that says: “The only brand that never goes out of style is authenticity.” That quote is by me. Writing short little “inspirational” quotes like that is part of what feels like authentic creative work to me. So does writing really sad breakup poetry. So does making influencer parody Instagram reels. So does translating a book about energy healing from German to English. So does telling stories from my life. You get the point: My authentic voice (sorry, not sorry if that expression makes you want to puke a little) has a lot of different things to say which sometimes – and by sometimes I mean more often than not – holds me back from using it at all. Because I don’t want to be all over the place, because I don’t want people to think that I sound stupid, and so on, and so on. I don’t have to explain the fear of being judged to you. Or the fear of creating something that turns out to be hot garbage. Those fears are universal. So what if I get over those fears and “just” start using my authentic voice more frequently? What if there is one person out there who needs to hear what I have to say? What if there are ten, or maybe even one hundred? The Instagram post that has by far gotten the most attention of anything I have ever shared was one I wrote about the random waves of grief brought on by missing my ex-wife. The shit was raw but yet beautifully written (if I may toot my own horn for a second) and nearly 100 people felt compelled to leave a comment. That’s a lot of people giving a fuck. And then I have shared things that I thought were brilliant which people seemed to not care about at all – again measured by Instagram likes (which is not a great measure but at it’s a measure). I could spend a lot of energy analyzing what hits a nerve with my “audience” and build my “brand” around that but that doesn’t feel authentic. So maybe I’ll just authentically be all over the place: A blog post here, a tear jerking poem there, a funny video in between, lots of post-it note quotes, and certainly some hot garbage (about authenticity). Let that be my brand for now and let it evolve, change, grow, die, and be born again as often as it needs to.
And so it is.
KATJA BAVENDAM 