There is a new kind of anxiety that didn’t exist twenty years ago. It’s the feeling you get when you post something and immediately check how it’s performing. It’s the low-grade dread of being invisible to the algorithm. It’s the slow erosion of your intrinsic motivation as you start making things for metrics instead of meaning.
I want to propose a radical act: stop caring. Not about your work — care deeply about your work. But stop caring about the numbers. Stop checking the analytics. Stop optimizing your headlines. Stop wondering whether the algorithm will surface your post.
Make things because they matter to you. Share them because you think someone might need them. Let them find their audience in their own time, through their own paths.