How do you rate something so subjective?

Where do you place your confidence in your talent? By the number of likes you get? By the shares? By the comments? By the people you've impacted? By the number of page views? By whose appeals more to the community? By who uses bigger words and by who's got their technique down? By who's got their stuff published and sold on a website?

How do you rate something you can't put a number to? How do you judge something you can't tick off a checklist? It's very easy to feel unconfident in your ability, when someone else who's nothing much seems to be getting it all. And you think, am I really not as good? How do people see my work? Does it really move their hearts like I hope it would? Is this going anywhere, or should I just give up and seek something else?

It all ends when you put your confidence in other people. You have to realise that no matter how many pageviews and shares and likes you've got, you mean nothing to them anyway. So what if the blogger with lousy English gets more likes than you do? So what if the impossibly untalented artist gets more online hype? So what if the croaky singer is more popular because he's cuter? You can only believe in yourself. It's all you can do. Come to terms with the fact that even if you really do suck at it, it's all you know, and it's all you can continue to do. Remember that even if no one bothers even to give you a mildly interested glance as you strum away or paint those caricatures, you're doing it for yourself. The beauty of the world all encapsulated in that one song, that one piece of work, only for you. Don't be greedy and expect others to affirm your talent. It means nothing to them. Do it for yourself.