044 - That Even if Someone's Sad Story is Inspiring, it Still Really Sucks

Today I noticed that people often label others as inspiring when they're in a challenging situation. While this might be true and well-intended, there’s a weird double-take that can and maybe should happen when thinking about those “inspiring” folks: thinking of the very real and often terrible struggles the person is enduring, inspiring or not.The creative lesson I took from this Noticing is that there's a danger in romanticizing struggle and pain in any story or art, even when trying to do it justice. We should strive for authentic portrayals, capturing the nuanced emotions and not just the outwardly “inspiring” facets of hardship.WANT MORE?Members get extra episodes of the podcast, extra companion blog posts (see below), and more every week … all for the price of a fancy coffee. Learn about membership here.Prefer reading?Listening to the Art of Noticing podcast is only one way to get these lessons. Every episode of the podcast also has a complete companion blog post, all of which you can find here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johnnybtruant.substack.com