Are you able to just kind of socialize and get involved in stuff without as many second thoughts? Or make and share stuff with less of an imposter syndrome or whatever you might call it when you’re uncomfortable being associated with your work?
Or is it like so many things, where it kind of depends on how things are going that day?
I wouldn’t say I have a particularly positive self image but I guess I grew too old to keep caring so much about what people think of me in social situations. We’re all just trying to get by and doing our best. And when it comes to my art, my thinking has slowly transformed to “why should I have any less right to people’s attention than anyone else?”
I suspect this is the best answer for someone who is looking to cultivate a positive self image. There are other important factors too, like working on avoiding negative self-talk. But I think the big one is not letting others define how you think about yourself.
Criticism can be valuable but I think it’s important to develop a filter for recognizing when people are just projecting their assumptions onto you and completely ignore those.