the cost of going viral as a creative spirit
When I started doing spirit portraiture, I was absolutely obsessed.
Captivated. Completely enamored. Excited to connect to both spirit, and to my fellow human beings. And last fall, people online were starting to feel my passionate for it, too
For weeks on end, my videos went viral every time I posted.
I garnered a large following (from ~800 followers to 90K+ in under four months), a lot of haters, and loads of new clients. I was conditioned to believe that these are the ideal circumstances for a professional creative trying to make an impact.
But here’s the personal consequence: I then avoided sharing any other kind of artistic expression, and fell right back into people pleasing (ugh).
I convinced myself that spirit portraiture is the only creation that deeply resonates with people, and sharing my other interests might compromise the “success" of Sunlight Oracle.
In other words, I flattened my humanity to be palatable for the hoards of people who were now connected to one aspect of my work.
Right now I am building the spirit portrait database, and it’s going well, but I’m also utterly obsessed with the art of ritual tattooing. Next month it might oil painting, or mediumship, or rapping. Then I could circle back to documentary photography or embroidery. And I want to make stuff out of plants???
What I've learned in my decade as a professional creative weirdo is that longevity is found in the artist who has multiple expressions they can pivot toward or away from when called to do so. This is nothing to be ashamed of — it’s something to lean into. In fact, exploring new terrain is essential to nurturing the creative spirit.
Creative spirits seeking to escape the pressures of late-stage capitalism may come to believe that ‘niching down’ means more visibility, which means more clients, which means more money, which means more “freedom”. But that quest for freedom is often just a veiled version of escapism. More on that some other time.
requirements for surviving the “virality” gauntlet
One of my mentors told me that the art of mediumship seems to be a sort of cruel paradox for the medium: we take the most energetically sensitive beings and put them in the most controversial space, throw them to the wolves, and then ask them to hold their own.
There’s a lot of self-development work that goes behind every medium, artist, or creator that has the courage to put their work in the world — and stand behind it.
Here is what I learned from going viral for seven months straight:
You have to have your own back, 100%. If you’re not ready to have your own back in the face of trolls and haters, going viral can do tremendous damage to your budding creativity. If you have any doubt about your work (which, as a human being, you likely do and that’s to be expected), then going viral might exacerbate the doubt.
Know how to regulate your nervous system. The truth is, for creative and sensitive people, the constant growth of your visibility can begin to mimic a high-stress situation. From August through February, I felt like I was out of my body and I literally dreaded using my phone to do anything — including using Spotify or mapping a route via GPS.
Building relationships with friends and allies online is what’s most important for your future vision and the future of humanity. Chasing numbers is possible, but dramatically unfulfilling.
From my experience, I have learned that I no longer desire to “blow up” my business or go viral. I create from the soul, and maintain the connection to humanity in a world that feels to be relying more and more on AI.
What I really want to do is support other creative spirits who are coming up against these challenges. I want you to share your truth and your work in a way that works best with your energy, not in the way we’re conditioned to. I have made soooo many mistakes so you don’t have to.
So if you’re an artist who is blocked, or just seeking a brief energetic adjustment, hit me up. Let’s work together in a new paradigm.
