Health Equals Creativity

To live a creative life, you don’t need an ideal working space, money to buy paint, a difficult past or to have been born with tons of talent.  I think the main thing you need to be creative, is general health in body and mind.  Painting can be a great motivator for staying healthy.

Creating artwork is very healing and can lead people to better states of mind and overall health and it has helped me overcome various difficulties.  However, on the other hand, if I am sick, depressed or anxious, I find it impossible to be creative.  I end up wrecking things, am very unfocused or can’t make a decision.  The best approach in this case may just be to rest, work on solving the problem or wait for certain events or obstacles to pass.  Just the fact that I know I have painting to get back to, is a real comfort to me.

A popular myth in our society is of the “tortured artist” – that to create great artwork, one needs to suffer, be mentally unstable or is allowed to be a difficult person.  Many artists have died from alcohol or drug use and so people believe these are the inevitable hazards of the occupation.  However, there are many more artists who have lived and worked happily into their nineties.  In fact, there are scientific studies that connect creativity with longevity.  There is no doubt there is plenty of pain in the world and creating artwork can help to alleviate it, but to purposefully stay in a state of suffering because you think this will help you be a famous artist, is a total misconception.   I’m not sure if I’ve created anything good while I’m miserable – my brain works way better when I am happy and have had a good sleep.

I’ve often feared painting was a strange, irrelevant and possibly selfish pursuit.  It doesn’t save lives or feed people.  It doesn’t embrace the latest technology; I am still doing what the cave people did.  It was also clear early on, that this was not a wise choice for any significant financial gain.  But maybe painting, like other occupations, such as “pole-vaulting”, where someone spends hours practising something over and over for an outcome that may not matter to others, is not selfish.  Painting motivates me to keep my life in balance, which in turn makes me more capable of bringing others (hopefully) more meaning, connection or inspiration.

Through my desire to make paintings I keep life simple, try staying happy and aim to address life’s problems before they become behemoths.  This in turn helps me be more creative – a cycle that keeps me always reaching higher and optimistically forward on this life journey.

My desire to work – my desire to engage with my creativity as intimately and as freely as possible – is my strongest personal incentive to fight back against pain, by any means necessary, and to fashion a life for myself that is as sane and healthy and stable as it can possibly be.  Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic.

Image above:  Flowers blooming on the hike to Mt. Albert Edward, 2024