The Battle Between Expectation and Authenticity

Expectations show up in subtle ways. What sells. What gets attention. What feels familiar or safe. Over time, those expectations can start to feel reasonable, even helpful.

But they can also pull the work away from what feels true.

For me, authenticity has never been about being different for the sake of it. It has been about paying attention to whether the work still feels honest while it is being made. That honesty is easy to lose when too much energy goes into meeting external expectations.

Expectation asks for clarity.
Authenticity asks for care.

Early on, it is tempting to lead with what looks finished. Strong technique. Clean surfaces. A clear idea. Those things matter, but they can also distract from why the work exists in the first place. I have learned that when I focus too much on how the work will be received, my decisions start to feel forced. The work may look resolved, but it feels thin.

The most reliable guide has been the smaller decisions made while working. How much to include. When to stop. What to leave unsaid. These choices are not dramatic, but they are where the work either stays honest or drifts.

Authenticity is not something I arrive at once and keep. It is something I have to return to repeatedly. Each new piece brings its own set of pressures, and each time I have to decide whether I am responding to the work itself or to what I think it should be.

This does not mean ignoring influence or working in isolation. Everything is shaped by context. But there is a difference between being informed and being led. When expectation starts driving the work, the work loses its footing.

The hardest expectations to let go of are often internal. The feeling that the work needs to justify itself. That it needs to explain its relevance or prove its value. Letting go of that impulse has been necessary for the work to deepen.

What remains when I stop trying to satisfy expectation is focus. Attention to what feels right rather than what looks correct. Over time, these choices add up. They create a body of work that follows its own logic. One that does not ask for approval to exist.