When the Applause Fades: How Self-Worth Becomes Performance-Based

For many musicians, creatives and performers, the stage feels like home. It’s a place of connection, catharsis, and recognition. But what happens when your sense of self-worth becomes fused with how well you perform, how loud the applause is, how many people show up, or how much praise you receive?

It’s not always obvious. It can feel like drive, ambition, a standard. But beneath that can live a more fragile truth: if you’re only as good as your last performance, your worth starts to feel conditional.