Posted by JohnD
Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:20:00 GMT
Some Rights Reserved by ul_Marga at Flickr
I want to explore a lot more about creating and the creative process, but first I need to examine methods to keep depression from undermining the creative work I try to do. Or should I even put it that way – is it depression that stops me? For years, I told myself I couldn’t work when in a mental fog of depression, my will to act paralyzed, my motivation even to imagine a new writing project completely gone. Does it have to be that way? Here are a few writers who say NO!
Near the beginning of Julie Fast’s Get It Done When You’re Depressed
, she quotes an artist suffering from depression who made an important discovery. Although she had been thinking she could not work when depressed, a friend asked her if she could see any difference in the quality of the work she produced when feeling good and when feeling bad. She realized that there was no difference. That was an eye-opener. She realized that even when she felt low and lacking the will to get to her creative work, she was still capable of producing the painting that gave her such deep fulfillment. Now she’s focused on her work, rather than on her feelings about whether she’s able to get started. For her, this realization has made all the difference, and she’s painting whether she’s excited about her work or unable to stop crying.
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Posted in Surviving at Work, Connecting, Fighting Depression, Creativity | Tags art, creating, creativity, depression, Fast, Fear, Fritz, Julie, Robert, work, writing | 2 comments
