Do you Challenge Yourself?

I saw something like this on Instagram earlier, and it got me thinking (this is sort of a continuation of my last post), I do not do challenges, I thought once about doing one, the Nanowrimo one, but I think I read the description or entered (I actually cannot remember), and I  was like, this is not for me.

I love to write, but I cannot force myself to it, I have wrote for others in the past, when I needed money and would do basically anything others (company, websites, bloggers) would ask for a couple of bucks, but then came a day that I said: enough. The reason was simple, I did not want to continue putting so much effort into writing something that was not even going to have my name on it, I would get zero credit for it, and it would only give some money, while the other party would have it online or whatever for many months or years and keep on earning with my work.

Of course that was not the main reason, because I could live without those articles, short stories or anything else they made me write, since some were not even my cup of tea, not something I would normally write, however, the pressure? That truly got to me, the constant nagging, the rules, the guidelines, the you-have-to-do-it-this-way or else, the never-ending “critics” (Yes, I worked for a company and they were horrible), the point is that I did not want to feel like my work was not good enough, or the late hours finishing a piece, I wanted all of that over and out of my life, it was making me distant myself from a computer, a pen and paper, anything to do with my precious writing world, so I ended it all. I got a different job, one that did not have me writing 24/7 and decided to write for myself only, and occasionally for all of you readers 😉

And so, in short, no, I do not challenge myself because I do not wish to be constantly annoyed by others, those that would not appreciate what I write. I can create a beautiful piece, with incredible magical characters and have some or none readers read it, and it still will be alright, I do this because I like to write.

What about you writers? Do you challenge yourself with online challenges or something like it? Thank you for stopping by.

PD: I know that some find challenges (in whatever form) helpful, and that it might not be realistic to think the way I do, but it is the way it is.