It's been a very popular notion for a very long time that if a creative person isn't suffering for their art, they must not be any good. They must not be serious about (insert artistic choice here). They are just indulging a hobby. Just look at all the quotes by the successful authors out there about writing that somehow or other involve the idea of "bleeding on the paper".
There is the "starving artist" mentality. The "eccentric locked away in their writer's garret" label. The "no tears from the writer, no tears from the reader" warning. (And I gotta ask, why on earth does anyone only want to read books that make them cry???) We hear the "write drunk, edit sober" pro tip. It is highly suggested that all of us need to be medicated - whether by a professional or through recreational means - on a regular basis. Over all, creative people of all sorts are often looked at as weirdo loners with a penchant for self destructive behavior. I call bullshit. Sure, a lot of us have fallen into one or more of those stereotypes at least a time or two just like everyone who mistakenly claims they don't have a creative bone in their body. Do we do it BECAUSE we're creative? Nope. I think it's much more likely that there are two things at play with that perception-made-reality. 1) There's a giant expectation that we all be nuttier than a deep winter squirrel feeder. 2) A great many artistic people are introverts who are required to sing for their supper to a large audience that is just dying to throw mean words at them for it. Bonus: There are those who manage mental illness through creativity. Depending on the severity and symptoms of their condition, it might be very easy to believe that they are simply pain fueled. In other words, I don't think that the act of channeling that creative spark every single human on this planet has glowing inside them is - or should be - painful. If pain plays any part in the process, it is only when it is being drawn out of some past wound through a creative act undertaken to heal the injury to our spirit, or when we are having trouble dealing with current events that have us drowning in hurt and fear. At those times, the pain has to be removed or it poisons the creative well. The art (in any form) created from that process does often hurt, but it is pain toward healing, not simply the necessary fuel for our creativity. There is no creativity that requires developing a case of chronic emotional pain to produce a finished piece worth a place in this world. Read that again. Want it in easier terms? Creativity should NOT hurt you. It should bring you joy or relief. It should give you a channel for all of those innumerable emotions you have floating around inside of your being. It should provide healing or celebration. Want to know something else? You don't have to listen to ANYONE who says differently. All they are doing is peddling an addiction to the misery they don't want to let go of. Tell them to take a hike. Then, go make something beautiful. Make it with as much joy as your soul can shine into it. Don't do it in spite of them. Do it for them because they won't do it for themselves. Happiness and contentment are addictive, too. Maybe one day that will be everyone's emotional "drug" of choice.
1 Comment
Margaret
9/7/2021 11:56:23 am
Love that "weirdo loners with a penchant for self destructive behavior" reference!
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