A Basquiat painting just sold for $110 million.
The house down the street just sold for $100,000 more than your's did (and they looked just about the same).
You pay .99 cents for a new song that someone spent months writing.
A book that costs ten bucks changes your life.
Values are all over the place. Maybe you think your job doesn't pay you enough (you might be right) or that you deserved more from your last effort. Or maybe you're one of those people who say "God, I can't believe I get paid this much doing what I love."
The market can be a harsh mistress. It tends to equalize things, and has a habit of racing to the bottom. And if you're in the creative space especially (like a writer, an artist, or a filmmaker), you feel that pressure pushing on you everyday. I can find someone cheaper is often our greatest fear.
Then there's Basquiat. To remind us that no one wants to hear our excuses. Our complaints.
So it's hard, so what?
The sooner we embrace that, the sooner we stop devaluing ourselves. To paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, nobody can make us feel inferior without our consent - and this extends to the market as well. If we think we're worth more, fight back. Prove it. Play the long game and grind and grind and grind some more. Go out there and make it happen.
That's about the only thing that markets, and other people, respond to.