Asa Daniels, senior staff writer

It is a popular notion that creative people, be it artists, writers, singer-songwriters or whoever else creates cultural pieces, are and must have a mental-health challenge or serious trauma to be the creative person that they are. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

To be fair, there is a clear correlation between creative people and some major distress in their lives or a mental illness. Ernest Hemingway, Maya Angelou and Townes Van Zandt all endured many, and grievous, challenges in their lives. Francisco Goya produced some of his most meaningful artistic pieces in an emotional state of great distress and loss, such as seen in his “pinturas negras.” Some of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain’s most important music sprouted from his anxieties. 

So, it is very clear that suffering and creation go hand-in-hand for a lot of people and in a lot of cases, but I believe that most people may have this relationship switched. It is often believed that there is artistic creation because of one’s suffering; the raging alcoholic creates powerful literature because of his challenges with his addiction. Alcoholism serves as the source of his inspiration, the meaning to his existence. However, the relationship is different from that. 

In reality, the alcoholic created his literature even though he is addicted to alcohol. He was capable of standing away from alcohol long enough that he could put together words that were meaningful in exploring his suffering. Likewise, he had the capability to appreciate the fact that his addiction was negative for him, even if he continues to indulge in it. 

A similar thing is the case of mental illness. Mental illnesses are debilitating, by definition, to the point that one is, or at least feels, unable to do anything but suffer through their illness. In short, there is no time or ability to put one’s suffering of the illness through a creative or otherwise meaningful outlet. 

Further evidence that this theory simply fails is the fact that it supposes that, as suffering increases, creation increases. This was certainly not the case for aforementioned Van Zandt. As his addiction to alcohol and heroin escalated, his creative energy sapped and he lost the distinct finger-picking style which defined his career. In the end, his addictions led to his death in 1997, thus ending any future creative output he could’ve provided. 

Furthermore, thinking that suffering is the exclusive source of creativity prevents a plethora of people from engaging with their creative mind. Artists won’t paint, writers won’t write, because they think to themselves “oh, well, I haven’t been abused horribly so I don’t really know what it means to have deep feelings.” This is an insane and belittling statement. Everyone’s life is made of unique experiences that need not be dark to have meaning. If anything, perhaps we need more creative output that is positive, that displays gratitude for the goodness in one’s life rather than the suffering one has endured since the age of 12. 

Likewise, it is wrong to think that engineers and computer scientists are not creative, which this assumption often does. Some of the most creative people I’ve met are people who write out new code in order to help address nuanced problems that I myself cannot even get a granule of understanding about. Mathematicians are creative people and they too have endured suffering, yet just because it is displayed differently as equations or formulas, just not in the way we are used to in creativity, we assume they are not on the same level as poets or sculptors. 

In short, I’m not saying you need to stop putting your suffering into your work. What I’m saying is that you need to take your creative works like you take life: with the good and the bad. Appreciate that your suffering is no less than others in terms of being allowed for sharing through creative platforms. Appreciate that your story is unique and yet can still be a piece of unity between yourself and total strangers – it can become a part of the collective unconscious which we are all a part of. Appreciate that suffering is not the source of creativity – instead, being aware of one’s self and being mature with who you have been, who you are and who you want to be, is the true source of creativity.