Wow, Lisa, really provocative question! Since my teens I've struggled with depression, OCD, and an eating disorder. One obvious connection is when I got into my teen years I stopped doing almost all creative expression. I wonder if my mental illness was a result of this? Though I believe the connection is a more subtle one. I know I struggle to deeply appreciate my love of beauty and love of creativity. These gifts feel very unappreciated in a world obsessed with "how much money can you make for me?" Something for which I don't currently have a clear answer. Perhaps I never will? My hope is that I will learn to truly love and appreciate these qualities over time. At the very least beauty and creativity remain sources of great pleasure and fulfillment for me.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Judy. ✨ And, as I mentioned on your re-stack of this newsletter, thank you for being vulnerable and for sharing your worthy experience with me and with all of us. I too get nervous about being sales-y and asking for money but, you know what? We're worthy of asking people to pay us for our genius -- just like everyone else. 👌
"We're worth of asking people to pay us for our genius" Yes indeed and if we don't who will? I am an advocate for sensitive creative types prospering in our world.
What an interesting concept and a beautiful holistic perspective! I have definitely experienced waves of melancholy over the years, especially in those moody teen years. I still get them. Sometimes its felt like being at a low point, but maybe it's also just natural for us -- we feel ALL the things. So of course there's ups and downs of all the emotions. Each thing we feel contributes to our creative goodness and the contributions we bring to the world. Thanks for sharing about this!
You raise so many excellent points. Melancholy can be wonderful creative fuel, and at a certain point it gets too dangerous and leads to mental heath challenges. Keeping the balance right enough is so key! And then the economic element! It feels like HSP creativity can get so lost among the demands of the free market economy. So many of us are so unwilling to put ourselves out there for fear of coming off as arrogant or fraudulent. It can feel like only the most boastful creatives get attention. I know that isn’t 100 percent, but it can feel that way. I love coming across HSP art. I always know it when I see it or hear it. What a true treat. My husband is the primary breadwinner in the family, but I struggle to get out there due to the demands of caregiving. It’s a challenge to heed the creative siren in this fast moving age.
Thank you for your thoughtful & honest response, Kay. You're right. We definitely don't want to give people the ick by being boastful. On the other hand, HSPs tend to shy away from that outward promotion - even when it's warranted. Finally, I love the phrasing, "heed the siren"...so evocative.
As a Smashing Pumpkins fan (who had a crush on Billy), this reached me. I've always been a melancholic type, and this has definitely fueled my creativity and art appreciation before. As I aged, my love for writing diminished even though my sadness lingered. I'm happy to say that I've since rediscovered writing, and I'm holding onto it tightly this time.
Thank you, Cheniece, for sharing your Smashing Pumpkins fandom as well as a little piece of you. It makes me so happy to hear that you've rediscovered writing and are clinging onto it this time 'round. 💞
Wow, Lisa, really provocative question! Since my teens I've struggled with depression, OCD, and an eating disorder. One obvious connection is when I got into my teen years I stopped doing almost all creative expression. I wonder if my mental illness was a result of this? Though I believe the connection is a more subtle one. I know I struggle to deeply appreciate my love of beauty and love of creativity. These gifts feel very unappreciated in a world obsessed with "how much money can you make for me?" Something for which I don't currently have a clear answer. Perhaps I never will? My hope is that I will learn to truly love and appreciate these qualities over time. At the very least beauty and creativity remain sources of great pleasure and fulfillment for me.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Judy. ✨ And, as I mentioned on your re-stack of this newsletter, thank you for being vulnerable and for sharing your worthy experience with me and with all of us. I too get nervous about being sales-y and asking for money but, you know what? We're worthy of asking people to pay us for our genius -- just like everyone else. 👌
"We're worth of asking people to pay us for our genius" Yes indeed and if we don't who will? I am an advocate for sensitive creative types prospering in our world.
What an interesting concept and a beautiful holistic perspective! I have definitely experienced waves of melancholy over the years, especially in those moody teen years. I still get them. Sometimes its felt like being at a low point, but maybe it's also just natural for us -- we feel ALL the things. So of course there's ups and downs of all the emotions. Each thing we feel contributes to our creative goodness and the contributions we bring to the world. Thanks for sharing about this!
“We feel all the things” — ain’t that the truth!
haha ohhh yes. Always!!!
I hadn't really thought much about melancholy before...thanks for opening up a new world for us here
You raise so many excellent points. Melancholy can be wonderful creative fuel, and at a certain point it gets too dangerous and leads to mental heath challenges. Keeping the balance right enough is so key! And then the economic element! It feels like HSP creativity can get so lost among the demands of the free market economy. So many of us are so unwilling to put ourselves out there for fear of coming off as arrogant or fraudulent. It can feel like only the most boastful creatives get attention. I know that isn’t 100 percent, but it can feel that way. I love coming across HSP art. I always know it when I see it or hear it. What a true treat. My husband is the primary breadwinner in the family, but I struggle to get out there due to the demands of caregiving. It’s a challenge to heed the creative siren in this fast moving age.
Thank you for your thoughtful & honest response, Kay. You're right. We definitely don't want to give people the ick by being boastful. On the other hand, HSPs tend to shy away from that outward promotion - even when it's warranted. Finally, I love the phrasing, "heed the siren"...so evocative.
As a Smashing Pumpkins fan (who had a crush on Billy), this reached me. I've always been a melancholic type, and this has definitely fueled my creativity and art appreciation before. As I aged, my love for writing diminished even though my sadness lingered. I'm happy to say that I've since rediscovered writing, and I'm holding onto it tightly this time.
Thank you, Cheniece, for sharing your Smashing Pumpkins fandom as well as a little piece of you. It makes me so happy to hear that you've rediscovered writing and are clinging onto it this time 'round. 💞