When I moved from my old website to this one, I wasn’t able to bring much old content with me. This is a repost of a blog from July 2018.

Last week I met a mental health practitioner who, when I said I was an artist, responded with something along the lines of “Oh! Well you’d be happy and relaxed the whole time!” 

I was initially struck dumb and I must admit to waiting for the laughter to erupt that indicated she was joking. It didn’t come. She was serious! I asked if that was really what she thought, because it was not my experience of being an artist. She replied that yes, it was the popular view of artists and their lot.

Yes, we also experience great joy and the expansive feeling of something that is a combination of success, self-worth and the pleasure of having learned something new. Creating something that has never existed before feeds our desire to create again and again.

Creating is often a journey of discovery that ends in a surprise. It’s like your birthday every day of the year. It’s like drinking wine and eating chocolate at the same time. It’s like reaching the summit of a mountain and surveying the view. It’s amazing. 

These are the kinds of things I address in Creating for Happiness*. If you are interested in being a happier artist, ridding yourself of creative frustration or being someone who creates for the sheer pleasure of it, then you might find Creating for Happiness will help you too.

And if you find yourself talking to an artist who is struggling, send them there too. It’s time we used our 21st century thinking to improve the artist’s lot.

*Creating for Happiness will be reborn later in 2021. Stay tuned.