Finding the Balance: Brand Building VS. Private Creative Life

For most of my days, I like to live in a soft, private rhythm. I stay close to my inner circle, tending to my home, my animals, and my creativity in quiet ways that feel nourishing. I’m happiest when life is simple and slow.

But every so often, something inside me gets louder. My creativity feels too big to contain, and I feel this strong desire to share—my art, my days, my thoughts, my process. I want to let people into the things that light me up: the jewelry I’m making, the garden I’m tending, moments with nature that shape who I am. I know there are people who will resonate with what I create, and a part of me deeply wants to connect with them.

This is where the tension lives.

There’s a real push and pull between wanting to share my brand with a wider audience and wanting to protect the private, spacious, grounded life that supports my work in the first place. I feel passionate enough about what I’m creating, that I could do it full time… self-employed, flowing with my creativity, building a life where my hands and heart guide my days. But the reality is that social media is one of the main ways small brands are discovered, and using it well requires a kind of exposure that doesn’t always feel natural to me.

Instagram, especially, feels like a wild creature I haven’t quite tamed. The algorithm isn’t exactly a loyal companion, and self-promotion can feel cringey and draining. The pressure to be on camera, to turn myself into a “brand,” to post consistently, to chase visibility—it can feel like the opposite of why I create. And it’s hard not to feel affected by metrics that were never meant to measure something as personal as art or presence.

More than anything, I don’t want my life—or my worth—to be shaped by a glowing screen. I don’t want to feel controlled by an app, or tied to a device, or pulled away from the things that matter most: the land beneath my feet, the people I love, the craft that brings me home to myself, and the peaceful moments of a social media free life. 

So this is the insight I’m sitting with right now:

I want my art to reach more people, but not at the cost of my peace.

I want to grow my creative business, but I want that growth to feel aligned with who I am—not who the algorithm wants me to be.

I know I’m not alone in this. I think many artists, makers, and dreamers feel the strain between visibility and doing what feels authentic to them, between being online and being present in their actual lives.

So for now, I’m learning to let my creativity lead, not the metrics. I’m learning to build the courage to be seen in new ways by a greater audience, that is, if the algorithm is my friend. I’m learning how to invest in myself in a way that doesn’t feel natural, but may reap reward down the line.

And to trust that the people who are meant to find my art—the ones who will genuinely connect with it—will find it, even if I’m not constantly shouting into the noise.