Creative without suffering


indexMany artists still believe that they can only be creative when suffering. Many years ago I saw a film that explored this very topic. The manager was doing his upper best to let the artist suffer. It started with getting him away from his parents at a very early age. The manager also made sure that the first girlfriend disappeared shortly after. The challenge was, that the artists wasn’t allowed to see that it’s the manager that made him suffer.

Yes, the artist wrote some really great music in that film. Sorry that I don’t remember the name. If you know, please tell me. The film also showed in an excellent way that it’s the whole industry around a musician that benefits most from this way to work. A suffering artist is easy to manipulate. And as long as artists themselves believe in the myth that they have to suffer in order to create, they will not reach out for help to end the suffering.

Many artists feel different than the rest, displaced, detached from reality, an outsider. They want to be part of the group, but realize that they are different and start to feel pity about themselves. This kind of suffering than results in an outburst of creativity, every now and than. It’s a way to canalize the negative energy around them when they can’t numb it with alcohol and drugs. With that experience in mind, these artists think that creativity needs suffering and that it always comes to you as an outburst. They live their lives as a martyr to the arts without having a clue of what it is about.

Julia Cameron found the perfect words to describe it from her own experience: “I had an alcohol problem I could not handle any longer. I told myself that if sobriety meant no creativity, I did not want to be sober. Yet I recognized that drinking would kill me and my creativity. I needed to learn to write sober – or else give up writing entirely.”

The first step is to  take your life in your own hands, to end feeling pity for yourself. Than you start to practice your art even if you don’t feel like it. And you will discover, that creativity can come in a continuous flow to you, instead of unreliable outbursts. You will also discover the fun of getting better and better in your art. This doesn’t mean that you don’t will suffer again, you will learn how to deal with it. You will find new ways to incorporate life and everything around you in your art, not only your suffering.

Temporary support from a personal e-coach like me, can help you to quick-start that process. Please don’t hesitate to ask for information if you are interested. At ‘coaching’ you will find some first impression of how I can help you. And remember: everyone who steps out of his own comfort zone feels an outsider!

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