A lot of creative people seem to suffer from roller-coaster moods. One week (day?) there’s sheer delight to be alive: birds are chirping, coffee is brewing, butterflies are on the wing and ideas are flowing like a river. The next week (day?) that old black dog (depression) is nipping at our heels: the damn birds won’t shut up, the coffee tastes foul, all those moths flapping about drive us crazy, and the ideas well is totally dry.
A poet friend of mine recently said that a day in the open air, doing something creative and constructive works better than any anti-depression pill, and she should know, ‘cos she’s taking the medication. (No names, no packdrill…whatever the heck that means!) So, perhaps it’s something to do with being shut away in our little writer’s hidey-hole, tap tapping away, that shuts down the pituatary gland and makes us all misery grumps. Could be. But then, if I’m too long away from my work, tap tapping away, I get withdrawal symptoms and I’m not a happy camper.
Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen King, Elizabeth Browning, Jackson Pollack and Monet, have all fought depression. Monet wrote: I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture. And we all know about poor old Van Gogh. There’s been some interesting work done in recent years on the link between creativity and mood disorders. One researcher wrote that the artists’ depression:…may produce some cultural advantages for society as a whole, in spite of the individual pain and suffering that it causes: Iowa College of Medicine. (Lucky world, but tough toenails for the artist.) It may well be that the deeper the depression, the greater the creative genius.
Hmmm. So that’s why I’m not doing so well…I’m not depressed enough. That’s a depressing thought. I think my problem is that I’m too much of an optimist. I’m a glass half-full person. I know the sun will come up tomorrow. I know God loves me. It’s just as well He’s clued up on the whole ‘creativity’ thing. I’ll just have to keep a-hopin’ and a-prayin’. Wishing you all a butterflies and sunshiny week.
To write – or not to write – that is the question:
Whether tis Noble in your mind to suffer
The flings and sorrows from outrageous publishers and agents
Or to collect alms from a sea of rellies
And by appeasing – end them? To publish or perchance
To self publish – ay – there’s the rub.
You’re just too smart for your own good, Trev. Well done!
There are kinds of creative people and I don’t think one needs to be depressed to find creativity. I find when I’m depressed I can’t write i feel too discouraged.
I agree, Lauri. The last paragraph was definitely tongue in cheek. But it’s an interesting fact that creative/artistic people are more prone to “mood disorders” than the non-artistic. I don’t get anything done in the depressed times, either, but I often have an upsurge in ideas once I’m out of it.
Ah, it’s such a circle. I also know I will feel so much better if I get back into a writing rhythm, but I can’t get started because I feel so blergh!
Tomorrow is another day, Elle. When the black cloud lifts you’ll be raring to go. 🙂