Talk to each other

Talk to each other. Stronger together. 

When you feel like you're isolated in a situation, talk to someone. 

I mentioned that my experience with a particular exhibition this year was not a good one. The lack of care (not putting up artist's names or producing a price list) continued. I sold a painting, but when the exhibition finished, I had real problems being paid for it. A month later, I still hadn't received payment and was sick of the excuses ('my phone fell in the toilet' ?!) I was feeling frustrated and fed up. I made a complaint to the people who oversee the month-long set of exhibitions. The exhibition had been a group show, so I also got over my own discomfort, and reached out to everyone on the list. Lo and behold, I wasn't the only one. Suddenly we were having a conversation and sharing our frustrations over how things had been handled. I told everyone that I'd made a complaint, and I think some of the others then did the same. Whether it was the conversation or the complaint to the overseer, the following day we all got paid.

If I hadn't reached out to the others, we would all be sitting on our own thinking that we were the only one that this was happening to. Together, we encouraged each other, and got the outcome we wanted. So reach out. You're probably not the only one.