Sharing my thoughts because maybe someone else is feeling this and you're not alone 🩷 I finally understand why creators gatekeep, keep to themselves and close their DMs. I've always been happy to share my knowledge. As a former teacher, I LOVEEEEE helping and teaching! I go out of my way to explain things in detail, send paragraphs, screenshots, step by step breakdowns because I genuinely want to see people grow. I remember what it felt like starting out and not knowing anything and wishing someone could help. But when you don't even get a "hello" before a request, when someone drops into your DMs like you're Google, you give someone a huge chunk of your time and energy and all you get back is an emoji and when people only message you when they need something? It slowly eats at you. It's the constant asking with no relationship. The "hey can you..." instead of "hey how are you?" The sudden friendliness when you're attached to something they want and the disappearing act once they get the information, you start to realize some people don't see you as a person, they see access, opportunity and leverage. And that realization is heavy. What people don't understand is that a lot of creators are already stretched thin. We're our own marketing team, editor, designer, tech support, community manager, accountant, content planner and we have to be "on" all the time while on camera. Every ounce of mental energy matters. And it's not about being selfish. It's about protecting your capacity. There's also this weird expectation that because you made it through trial and error, you now owe everyone your blueprint. Like the years of testing, failing, investing, and learning are just community property. Helping feels good. Being used does not. And the hardest part? Sometimes the people who act the nicest are just networking upward. The compliments feel different when you realize they're transactional. That's when you start understanding the boundaries. Why creators close their DMs. Why they don't respond to everything. Why they stop oversharing strategy. Why they keep circles small. You can have a big heart and still need boundaries. You can want others to win and still protect your time. You can be generous and still say no. I'm not becoming cold. I'm just learning balance. And if you're a creator who's felt this - I see you. At the end of the day I still plan on helping fellow community members who I feel genuinely care and I feel are genuine, don't get me wrong, but I'm gunna start returning the same energy with shorter responses and start preserving my time because I'm kinda done helping people who just don't care and take zero effort to care about my feelings and time 🩷