Fame is a thing that many seek but most who find it, realise it comes with baggage they never sought. And lately, our relationship with fame is more complex than ever, thanks to social media and the like.
Every person with a device now has an open door to build a reputation, attracted by the popularity of celebrities and influencers. But for most, we pursue fame without any knowledge of its dangers and how to manage it. Fame can be an escape, an opportunity, a drug, a prison and all of the above. It takes a strong mind to survive fame.
This article will take a quick dive into fame, the dangers of it and an enlightening perspective on how to approach its pursuit.
We Mistake Fame For Value
The idea of fame is tied to a sense of success, power and worth. And because of this, many misjudge the connection between fame and value. Fame is how many people know you. Value is how many people you impact. But they have a telling relationship: the more impact we leave, the more renown we are. But if all we are is known, eventually all we will be is a memory and then lost to time.
There is more value to leaving impact than memories. One is gossip, but the other shapes mountains, leaves something more meaningful and impressive. You can forget a person, but a building will still house millions for generations even if the builder was never known.
Success lies in value and not fame. Value; Not recognition. Action; Not validation.
The Responsibility of The Famous
Fame comes with power and influence over those who admire you. But as an Uncle Ben once said, this also comes with responsibility. Your words and actions have weight.
Anything you say and do, those who follow you will listen and imitate. If those things are good then all is well and better but the negativity of your actions can have a severe impact on those who emulate you. You can be a beacon of good but also, without meaning to, become a cause of widespread harm.
The Dangers of Your Fans
But those who follow you can also have power and influence over you. There is a tragic reality that many famous face. They become bound by the words of others, becoming a prisoner of the eyes of their audience.
A dark thought is that many people don’t love you for who you are but what they want you to be. And if at any moment you step away from that image, they oppose vehemently, past the point of it feeling suffocating. If you are not careful, you can easily become the prisoner of your audience. Others, driven by jealousy or spite, may even go on campaigns to bring you down.
People are a kaleidoscope of different opinions and desires so never will you manage to make everyone happy. Never. And in trying to live for everyone except oneself, you may lose pleasure in the simple things in life if they are not validated by your audience.
And life loses the luster it once had because it only shines for you if someone sees it glow but not by how you light your own path.
Be Ready to Lose Your Privacy
To be famous means to be known and being known literally means people know a lot about someone and their life. When someone gains significant renown, their privacy is the first to go. Expect your life and words to constantly be in the limelight.
It can even pivot to extremes. Many celebrities have fallen into crisis because their fanbase have no boundaries and find pleasure in monitoring every aspect of their life like hawks. They find their lives to be a constant topic of gossip and entertainment, found in many a conversation on the internet. And much of what they hear has hurt them.
An Action is Only as Pure as it’s Intention
There is a story we write in the words of others, but at the end of the day, who are we really? And the only way to find that out is not by what we do but why we do it. For example, if a person gives charity to help someone, then that is an act of kindness, but if it’s done to be seen by others, is it anything but an act of boastful selfishness?
Every action is judged by its intention. In the pursuit of fame, it’s very easy for a good intention to become something selfish, but for many, it’s just their chosen pursuit. but in doing so, our actions lose their value and worth.
And so, in the pursuit of recognition, many rob their actions of value because they do a thing to be seen and not just because it is a thing that is good.
But Is it Wrong To Desire Fame?
That depends on what you want from it. Fame can be a cause of both good and bad, but you’ll only know where you fall until you ask yourself why you want it. Do you want to be seen or to be heard? And are you mentally prepared to deal with all the problems that come with it?
Words and what they mean have power over us. I like to think that instead of seeking fame, one should say they seek an audience. When I think of the word fame, it attracts the idea of being seen, such as “Being Famous”, “Celebrities” and the like. It feels shallow. But when we seek an audience, the word brings the sense of wanting to be heard and leave an impact.
But remember that you can leave great impact without being greatly known. Impact comes from the consistent actions we do and not from the number of people who know it. And always remember that it takes a strong mind to survive fame.