Competitions are not necessary in creative fields

A few years ago, I was sitting in a restaurant when a particular quote that was written on the wall caught my attention. It said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

Each one of us has our "thing" and a drive to work on our flaws to strive in that field. Someone out there might be acing in academics whereas their friend is hitting every note perfectly during their music classes.

If we put both of them together and exchange their fields, they might fail to complete each other's tasks.

Competitions make their way into academics and extracurricular activities to be the fair judge of a set of skills. It is equally important to note that winning or losing is not the main factor here. The idea of placing individuals with a similar set of skills in an environment where they would feel the need to amplify their abilities is the root cause of initiating competitions.

Creative fields that involve music, dance, and art do not require competitions as the learners are often at different stages of learning even after being divided into groups according to their ages. Honing your skills here takes a lot more time compared to other fields. When two children are of the same age, they can have different paces of learning. One of them will be able to process information faster than the other. But learners will eventually develop unique styles after some time and become subdivided into categories.

You will never be able to compare the styles of singers who are singing the same genre simply because of variations done during their performance.

One cannot compare the paintings of the two artists, because their mindsets were completely different during the process.

However, friendly competitions where the participant is given feedback regarding their work can be a substitute instead of ranking them based on their performance.

The idea of winning and losing can make someone feel inferior or superior during their initial stages of learning. It can also cause the person to become disinterested in gathering more knowledge about the subject.

Their confidence level can drop low and result in self-doubt.

On the other hand, if someone develops a superiority complex after winning, it will affect their growth as an artist. It will only result in overconfidence that will not allow them to judge their work properly. They will overlook their flaws and focus on the parts that do not require fixing.

There will always be someone better than someone else in a field. One should not aim to defeat all others and prevail on top, but to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.

Nodee is really good at running away from her problems. Give her some advice on how to face them at angelinafrancis004@gmail.com