Creativity Comes to a Mind at Ease
On why the Tortured Artist is a Meaningless Stereotype
Creativity doesn't come from mess. It doesn't come from addiction. It doesn't come from treating yourself badly.
Creativity comes from playfulness. It comes from rest. It comes from curiosity.
When you're curious, you trust your mind.
Trusting your mind is crucial to creativity. If you don't trust your own brain, you won't be able to do creative work.
Ideas CAN come from chaos. Productivity CAN come from pressure. But neither of those things are NEEDED.
What is needed, is an open mind.
What is needed, is to trust in the thoughts that flow through your brain.
What is needed, is to trust your ability, your tastes, your convictions.
To publish creative work, you have to have enough self-esteem to know you'll sometimes be terrible. You need enough self-worth to allow people to tell you your work is bad yet to still get up and go again.
Having self-belief is hard. Having the audacity to say "I'm a writer,” is near impossible. Having the courage to not only say "I'm an actor," but to stand up on a stage in front of people, or to allow someone to film you acting on screen, takes tremendous bravery.
I've known people who over-identify with that struggle. A musician who needs to get stoned, who needs to rail against what the industry has become. Or an actor who needs to really experience the lows the character has been through. Or the writer who needs to drink and smoke to feel like they can write.
But none of these things make you creative.
What makes you creative is sitting in the chair.
Doing the work.
If being tortured and thinking the world is against you works, great. Do what you need to do.
But most people I know who 'act' like tortured creative geniuses never actually make anything.
And if they do, they're so convinced it's the work of their own inspired genius that they can't stand criticism or, worse, being ignored. Being tortured and thinking the world doesn't understand you is a great excuse for rarely doing the work.
A healthy mind creates. Ships their work to the world. And is okay if the products of their mind are accepted or dismissed.
They trust themselves, and they are ready to go again.
You are so right on! Creativity is part of the human genome. Creating from a heart of torture and blame makes twisted things happen. I sit in the chair a lot. My pen and my brush accompany me. Sometimes they catch a whisper from the Creator, and I'm grateful.
Ironically, sometimes people do art to *cope* with their suffering. Their craft becomes a source of joy and fulfillment in the midst of hardship, something that helps them go on.