The Creative’s Curse

First, this happens:

You will write things, and they will suck.
You will draw things, and they will be terrible.
You will make music, and nobody will like it.

You will be rejected by everyone who knows you, so you reach for different ones. You avoid others for the sake of communication. You remove yourself from the local equation so you can be part of a global solution.

Above all you write more.
You draw more.
You play more.

You sit in a room, alone with your thoughts, hoping to turn chaos to order.

You wonder if Hemingway drank chamomile.

You muse over Picasso’s favorite meal.

You mirror the drinking habits of a Kurt Cobain.

Maybe it’s a trick of the substance, instead of the mind.

And you write more.
You draw more.
You sing more.

One day, it changes. Someone notices you don’t suck, you aren’t terrible, you aren’t worthless. Your ideas and art and music are catching on, and some people understand. Your heart has touched theirs.

You are no longer alone.