DAY FORTY FIVE

Validation. Nice to have and worth taking when it comes.

I don't think it's going out on a limb to say that it is a very rare individual indeed who doesn't welcome some form of validation, from time to time at least. Validation is one of those slippery words I think: Its meaning can too easily veer into the dangerous waters of approval, recognition, praise, and if a person is too enthusiastic in their search for it it can become attention seeking. But I see validation as somewhat more neutral.

 

My old school (and oldschool) dictionary defines validate as 'to confirm or corroborate'. That captures the matter nicely as that is exactly what I felt on seeing the two 'toots' as they are called on Mastodon, on the left.

 

Now, there is a thing called confirmation bias which as is now well known is a process whereby we tend to accept and magnify statements which confirm our already held views of the world while discounting those we disagree with. We may in fact be agreeing with something that is false while discounting that which is true, just because the statement we agree with confirms us in our beliefs. There is also a lesser known though once described instantly recognisable thing called the reticular activation system. That's the process whereby once something is on our mind, or we notice something 'for the first time', we tend to see other occurences of that same thing more frequently for a few days. One day you notice a pink poodle in the park, 'that's different', you think to youself. Then by the end of the week you're seeing pink poodles everywhere. 

For these two reasons I tread carefully whenever I find comments which seem to corroborate my own, but the two toots seem to be remarkably close in sentiment to recent posts in this blog: This one here on mastery just three days ago, and this one here on imperfection.

If one wanted to look at the coincidence of these views and mine 'scientifically', it wouldn't be at all surprising to find that if I am on a social media platform that is populated by artisans - artisan chat is the name of the server they belong to - then there will be at least some people who share some of my views about some things. Their comments here may be the only thing we agree on for all I know, and more importantly I may be construing them in a particular way that suits me, but nonetheless, I feel validated in what I have said previously.

 

The more general point is that all artisans, creatives, makers need that sort of validation from time to time, no one is an island. Even if their primary aim is to simply make something, or wile away some time in an absorbing hobby, nobody wants to feel they are totally alone or working in a vacuum. Why do you think so many people post pictures of their work on the internet?

So next time you see someone else's work give it some validation. It doesn't take much, doesn't have to be effusive praise or an inquisition on the maker's methods, doesn't even have to be directly about the work or the person. Ask a question. Share something from you own experience which relates, however tangentially. Just notice and show some interest if you can. Don't be fussy, unkind or clever. Chances are the person will read their own meaning into your comments and feel validated in some small way.

Onwards...buoyantly.