You Don't Have to Stay "Crazy" to Create Great Art
Sometimes I wonder if I’m manic or bi-polar. I’m not formally diagnosed, and as a professional psychotherapist I know that I am not. But I still feel intense mood swings.
I can go from feeling incredibly inspired and that anything is possible to not wanting to get out of bed for a week.
I’m sure many can relate to this.
When Sensitivity Gets Misunderstood
Last week we talked about how suppressing your keen ability to see beauty and pain in the world may have been misunderstood as a mental illness.
That your capacity to see and feel the nuances in life the way others don’t has been shamed as “overly sensitive” or “too emotional.”
The reality is that when you are attuned to the subtleties of life, it can feel like a rollercoaster.
You get to see so much beauty but you also witness the intensity of pain in the day to day.
People who experience big feelings and deep insights like this find themselves blessed and cursed simultaneously.
The Myth of the “Crazy Artist”
It’s a well-known narrative that some of the most talented creatives are “crazy” (I hate that word).
I’ve also heard talented people say:
“If I heal, I won’t be funny anymore.”
“If I take care of my trauma, what pain will fuel my art?”
I’ve thought to myself many times:
“If I’m not anxious or depressed, what will I write about? People won’t be able to connect with me.”
This perspective has kept me ill.
I don’t want to be ill for the sake of art and I do not believe it is necessary to be great.
Honouring the Emotional Creative
I want to be sensitive and emotive and attuned to my way of experiencing the world.
I want to see the waves I go through as simply “my way” and no longer scoop piles of dirt on my coffin of creativity hoping it’ll die.
I do not need the grief of my pain to be the source of my art.
The more I accept and love how sensitive I am, how emotional I am, how empathic I am… the more I actually get to enjoy the rollercoaster, knowing that the highs are exhilarating, and the plummet down the steep curve offers me a wealth of insight into the world and the human experience.
Embracing the Ride
Rollercoasters are fun.
So let’s take the shame and guilt and suppression out of our natural ways and throw our hands up as we plummet into the depths of our feelings, knowing they are a gift meant to be nurtured and cherished.
Will you join me on the ride?
These are my honest and raw thoughts.
With truth & love,
Katie
