Am I Talented Enough?

There's a question that lives in the back of many creative minds - especially those of us who didn't graduate from a prestigious art school, who didn't grow up with a trust fund or a mentor with industry connections: Am I talented enough?

I have been a creative my entire life. At six, I was watching after school cartoons and drawing on the back of my grandmother's mail. By nine, I would listen to WGCI Chicago's top nine at nine and record songs on cassette tape, making sure to leave out all the commercials. I would then study each song and write down every lyric.

When I was eleven years old, I was feeling rather bold and decided to sing Minnie Riperton's Loving You at a talent show. In case you're unfamiliar with the artist or the song, Minnie Riperton was a legendary R&B singer with a whistle register. I, on the other hand, was an eleven-year-old alto going through puberty. As you could probably guess, that performance went horribly wrong.

My younger self did not have the insight or confidence to realize that all great moments are usually preceded by failure. I, like most creative souls, have spent a long time being a perfectionist. Mistakes were unforgivable in my mind. Furthermore, as a result of my shaky, puberty-stricken voice, accompanied by unsupportive outside voices, I began to tell myself things such as, "I can't sing," or "I have no business on anybody's stage."

We encourage creativity in children, but often discouraged it in adults aside from exploitati ve reasons. I was the kid who loved getting art supplies for Christmas. To this day, I gift portraits and poems to my loved ones just as I did as a child. As much as my creativity was encouraged as a child, by the time I was sixteen or seventeen, it was time to get real. It was time to put away the crayons and stop singing the songs and get serious about life. As it was explained by society, being a successful creative was not for me.

As I got older, I did what I'd consider to be half-quitting on myself. I was blessed enough to be able to attend art school, but didn't graduate. I considered that to be a failure of mine for nearly 20 years. However, within those 20 years, I have written and self-published a book, I continue to draw, paint, write poetry, sing, or whatever else the invisible goblins in my mind would drive me to do. But for me, it wasn't enough. I wasn't the most famous or successful. I wasn't Beyonce or Michael Jackson. I didn't get a BFA in the arts as many of my counterparts have done. Who did I think I was, wanting to stand in front of a crowd with my shoulders back, saying, "My name is Monique, and I am an artist"?

The real question is who or what qualifies us to be successful? Did Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Grandma Moses require masters degrees to become the iconic artists they were? Absolutely not. Were your favorite singers or rappers born with trust funds and record deals? Again, no. Instead of asking ourselves if we are talented enough, perhaps we should be asking if we are able to believe in ourselves long enough to create momentum?

One thing I've come to realize in life is that being amazingly talented isn't always what sells. There have been times when I'd buy a book from Walmart that would be poorly written and not very good, or I'd hear a song on the radio that felt like background noise at best, and I'd think... somebody actually put money behind this stuff! The thing is, talent is only part of the equation. Confidence, visibility, consistency and belief are the true magic that goes into making a successful artist.

So are you talented enough? I'd like to say yes, but only you can answer that question for certain once you decide what YOU believe. You do not need permission to share your art. You don't need a fancy degree or the perfectly polished plan. You only need the courage to trust that your voice matters - and that there's someone out there who needs exactly what you create.