sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

[Guest]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Satori, I consider Mathematicians pure genius. Everything involves math. My job is design still have to have math, those pesky demensions. I think you have to be terribly creative to figure out what that X is equal to. I still haven't got that. I think Eistein was highly creative. I think all are creative just in different areas.
Smiles
Mary

[Guest]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

OOps, I forgot to add a line science and math do walk hand in hand right? You are incredibly talented.

[dilayne]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

funny, I can hardly retain more than 4 or 5 digits in my mind at any given time..and God forbid, you ask me to remember a phone number..so I don't do math, but I've drawn and painted since childhood, can comprehend complex metaphyscial, psychological and mystical concepts...creativity is limitless, really. I actually believe that we are all naturally creative, it's just a matter of degree, and to what channels we are open to.

[hidden_gem]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

So true, Dilayne...

I'm not creative at all in terms of drawing or painting, used to drive me mad at school, making a huge mess of anything I used to do. I can't paint, draw, sew, dance... I can act and (kind of sing), but that's about it!

But in my work with rehabilitating injured people, I have to advise others on how best to handle a situation... and the right approach just comes to me, and the right solution - for that injured person, and for the colleague that I advise, on how they handle it (because both personalities have to be taken into account). For a long time I didn't consider this to be creative, but now I see how it is.

And now I really feel the creativity in what I do, it spreads to all other aspects of my job and my life. It's amazing!

And yes, also... in terms of comprehending complex concepts, I also feel that I am creative in explaining these to others in the right way for them to interpret. Finding the examples I can relate to that will resound with them.

Much love

Gem x

[jay42]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

i agree , a lot of creative types have had drink/drug problems so many to mention ie van gogh malcolm lowry , morrison to name a few ..... for me i think that for a lot of creative people they find it difficult to keep one foot in the everyday world and then in those higher creative spheres . so they use alcohol etc as some sort of destructive equilibrium to keep themselves balanced but there were some writers who manged to find a balance between the two in a sober fashion ie shakespare, george bernard shaw goethe etc
yup know what u mean tho

[satori]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Perhaps we all exist on some "creative continuum" of some sort - some people are nearer one end than the other.
Once again - I seem to have a weird mix of what I consider "creativity" - a I said - I can copy/ reproduce things I can see - a bit like engineering drawing i suppose . I can't draw from memory or like my schoolfriend did.

I can play (copy) other's music very well and "know" or "feel" when it is right when I play it - but i cannot compose music of my own very well.
I also dabbled in bonsai cultivation several years ago and coud instantly "Know/feel" when I had got the dimensions / proportions / placement in the pot right (and wrong).

It is strange how it passes to our kids too.
My oldest is exactly like me in terms of all I have said above.
my younger son is much less sporty and much more artistic (ie more like his mother)
but strangely he is also much more naturally and creatively musical than either myself or Mrs S.

They seem to have arrived "prewired" in some way - as both have had very similar upbringing / opportunities / experiences all along the way.

Satori

xxx

[nancy]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

As a creative type, I would say artists may be more emotional and to seek alcohol to soothe those emotions. Also, I think there is less of an ability to tolerate the world the
way it is. Instead we are imagining it to be something else, more of an ideal.

However, other professions are prone to addiction for other reasons. I think I have read that doctors are vulnerable and so are lawyers. It might be due to stress and self-medication with alcohol. I imagine high-pressure jobs would be conducive to addiction.

And what about jobs in bars/clubs?

[dilayne]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Jay, you are sounding better this afternoon..good to see that! :0)
Somebody mentioned Doctors and Lawyers (Nancy?) that made me think that these are people who spend a lot of their creativity helping others..so that crosses over to another area..sometimes people who help others don't see when they may need help, so it boils down to using drugs or alcohol for the same reason..I'm not sure if it's really the creativity that is the common denominator as much as pain and the need for healing.

Very interesting topic..so nice to hear so many other perspectives.

[rottrod]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Nancy,

My drinking got much heavier during the 5 years that I moonlighted as a bartender. I'm a very social person so on my nights off I tended to go in the bar and drink with the regulars because I felt "safe". During those years I saw more than I ever wanted to see and learned more than I ever wanted to know about the nightlife. Patrons of dance clubs and some pubs don't often get a glimpse of the rather sordid life that some bar people live after the clubs close. Fortunately I got out because it was only a 2nd job for me. When the debt was gone I quit. I'm not really artistic, but I am creative, over sensitive, and very socially bold but otherwise very introverted. That's what the Meyer's Briggs test revealed about me.

[zincityzen]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

I wonder how many would-be artists start boozing it up once they realize their heroes lived large, drank too much, and suffered greatly. How many more novels would Hemingway have written, or Jack London had they not died prematurely due to booze? Stephen King said in an interview that he was smashed while writing some of his novels, now he's sober. Anne Rice wrote Interview with a Vampire pulling herself out of a bad, bad alcoholic episode after the death of her little girl. Drinking is what artistic types do when they're NOT creating.

[trixietrack]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

sensitive type

ScoobyDoo;131292 wrote: I will add that I think sensitive types tend to self blame (introvert) and take on responsibilities for things that may not be their fault. Know what I mean?

Scooba

yes i agree with you very much, something that I am working on as well as the alcohol over consumption

[trixietrack]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

zincityzen;132174 wrote: I wonder how many would-be artists start boozing it up once they realize their heroes lived large, drank too much, and suffered greatly. How many more novels would Hemingway have written, or Jack London had they not died prematurely due to booze? Stephen King said in an interview that he was smashed while writing some of his novels, now he's sober. Anne Rice wrote Interview with a Vampire pulling herself out of a bad, bad alcoholic episode after the death of her little girl. Drinking is what artistic types do when they're NOT creating.

I agree with you. creativity can consume a person the way booze does. but at least you have a product or an artifact.

[dilayne]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

I so agree with Scooby about taking 'blame' and responsibility for everything and being an introvert..and that creativity can consume a person...it's really a pain in the 'arse' when there is not product to show for it, which is the case when one can't contain the tension of being in that space. It can be a very fragile place to be, that creative zone.

[hidden_gem]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

What I personally have found destructive about the creative sterotype is that image of the tortured artist (whether that means writer, actor, inventor, scholar, scientist...)

Because the addiction and/or depression becomes so caught up in that scenario. In our culture, these things can go hand in hand. So when seeking to recover from addiction and/or depression, it is common to worry that you might lose your creativity along with the negative behaviours. People seem to believe that they "need the pain" to be creative.

That said, there are also many wonderful examples of those who have surpassed their mental struggles and found that they are even more creative as a result.

Gem x

[trixietrack]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Gem the mental struggles are what I am working on. it is not easy. a part off me has always thought that I need to be suffering to let the creative juices flow.
or that if I stopped or slowed down drinking I would just melt into a boring being.
i don't think that that is the case.