Depressed Man Relieved to Discover World Doesn’t Care Enough to be Against Him

We’ve all had those days, when the world seems completely against you. Where no matter what you do, how hard you work, whatever you try, nothing goes your way. This can be especially true of those trying to crack difficult industries. Well, as Jason Harris discovered sometimes the storm clouds of life have a silver lining.

After attempting for years to break into the film industry, facing innumerable hurdles from gatekeepers to mental struggles and more consistent failure than a Sabres playoff drought, he was relieved to discover that neither those in power nor the industry writ large were personally out to get him, rather, he wasn't deemed worthy of consideration in the first place.

“It was extremely tough. I'd be rejected time and time and time again, to the point I couldn't get so much as a response from anyone I reached out to. Your mind starts to turn inward, you see what gets out there and are really at a loss for ideas. Not creatively, it's more "how the hell did that get made and mine can't?"" Even the strongest willed could hardly be blamed for taking such slights personally. For bearing the weight of every polite yet ultimately worthless platitude. To wonder to what degree of familial separation counts to attempt being a nepo- hire. However, he soon discovered a much more simple explanation. "Fortunately it wasn’t that,they were singling me out, realistically they never gave a shit in the first place, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.”

"It's honestly a bit of a relief. I mean you go from thinking you're not talented enough to realising you're just a nobody, so that's something." Undeterred he continued his pursuit, putting in the work to further his goals was paramount, and so he set about doing all the 'right things' one is supposed to: Attending events, publishing blogs and other writing work, entering contests, reaching out to anyone with even a tangential connection to the industry. Sure by doing so the fruits of his labour would blossom? When posting on social media those who follow along would reciprocate? A beacon of hope or sense of positive reinforcement in an hour of need? “I’m sure they’re just busy. I mean I work full time then spend my days off writing and still manage to support their work, but I get it, it’s tough.”

After all these efforts, what helpful advice was forthcoming? "Just keep doing the right thing. The fact that these 'right things' happen to coincide with them not actually having to do anything is probably just a coincidence."