This weekend, I finally sat down with a book that had been sitting on my shelf (and my conscience) for way too long – Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’d heard it mentioned countless times, usually with words like “game-changer” or “must-read for creatives,” and I figured it was about time I found out what all the fuss was about.
So I curled up with a cuppa, a highlighter, and zero expectations – and within a few pages, I was hooked.
Then I hit this line:
“Your art doesn’t have to help anyone.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic (affiliate link)
And it stopped me cold. Wait, what?
Helping people is literally the reason I’m building The Growth Nexus. It’s why I write blog posts, create journal prompts, pour energy into the Collective. It’s what gets me up in the morning (along with caffeine and the occasional school-run meltdown, let’s be honest).
But then I kept reading. And it hit me.
The pressure to be useful
I don’t know about you, but somewhere along the way I picked up this idea that everything I make has to have a purpose. That it needs to be helpful. Practical. Worthwhile. That people should walk away from it with something valuable – or else I’ve wasted their time (and mine).
But when that’s your starting point? Creativity becomes a job interview. And expression becomes performance.
Suddenly, you’re second-guessing everything:
“Will this help someone?”
“Is this useful enough?”
“Will they think I’m being preachy?”
“Do I even have the right to share this?”
I’ve definitely felt that.
Especially lately – when I’m knee-deep in the mess of launching something new, trying to be visible, and wondering if anyone’s even paying attention. I want to help people. I want to make a difference.
But I also don’t want to sound like a self-help cliché wrapped in Canva templates.
So what if the point isn’t to help?
What if the point is to create? To follow the spark. To make the thing. To say the thing. To put it out there – not because it’s going to change someone’s life, but because it wanted to exist through you?
That’s what Gilbert’s getting at.
Your work doesn’t have to save anyone.
It just has to exist.
And you know what? When you show up like that – without the pressure to be profound – that’s exactly when people say, “God, I needed to hear this.”
How I’m reframing things now
I’m not here to hand out answers. I’m not here to fix people. I’m not even here to “help,” in the traditional sense.
I’m here to share my own path. To tell the truth. To make space for other women to reflect, reconnect, and redefine what growth looks like for them.
And if that resonates? Amazing. If not? That’s okay too.
This is the purpose of The Nexus Notebook
To write the messy middle. To reflect on what’s showing up in my world – the doubts, the breakthroughs, the flops and wins and wobbles.
Not because I have it all figured out. But because maybe something I say helps you realise something about yourself.
And not in a preachy, “here’s how to fix your life” kind of way. More like a “me too… now what?” kind of way.
If you’ve ever felt like you want to help people but you also kind of cringe at the idea of being one of those people (you know the ones)… I see you.
You’re not wrong. You’re just trying to be real.
And that, my friend, is more than enough.
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