This might just be a gen Z thing (though it started before our generation), but I’m starting to feel more and more like the societal expectation is for us to want to be self-employed in some way.

As in, that should be the dream.

As in, you know you’ve made it when you can quit the day job and pursue that thing you’re super passionate about full-time. Even better if you never have to have the day job.

I was chatting with one of my friends yesterday, just to check in, when our conversation moved from small talk to the topic of being artists on Instagram. We’re both pretty unknown on Instagram, and I suspect she’s just as unsure as I am about how much of an audience she actually wants for her work, but the discussion was still mostly about how “well” we were doing. And as of right now, she’s doing much, much better than I am, despite the fact that I have had my account for about two and a half years longer than she has. To be fair, she is a much better artist than I am, which totally accounts for some of her success. However, not all of it can be attributed to that. At all.