sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

[Guest]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

I may be the odd lot here,but I feel a lot of creativity is borne out of pain,And is a away to express ones self. In my case the drinking came along because of my sensitivity and emotional issues with my past. Did it ever affect my work, yes some of my best work was while I was drinking heavily. I just have to dig deeper now to find all that creativty. The pain is still there but I'm not drinking myself blind trying to deal with it. This being said. I hope it makes sense as i am not a writer. As you can tell.
smiles
Mar

[dilayne]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

I've gone through stages in my life as an artist so I can relate to a lot said and see how some things were true at different stages of my life. When I was young, it was easy to exploit the stereotypes..in a way, it gave me an excuse to be emotionally irresponsible. The suffering has also transmuted from ego suffering to soul suffering and I've learned that much of the pain is pain that I must go through in order to return to that deepest most authentic self..it's like having to cross a dark field with snakes in the grass to get to the other side...who wants to go there? So sometimes, I don't go there and my artwork suffers...I've been going through that field..and I'll say forrest as well, but at this later stage in my life, I feel more like I'm coming home. So, it's also a matter of maturing as a human being and as an artist..what is true about creativity at 20, may not be the same as for someone at 50....and if there has been alcohol and drug abuse, I know that impacts the emotional maturity and who knows what else. I'm very grateful that I see a light shining through the forrest now..I've almost given up as an artist because the personal challenge has been great..I don't know if it's because of the kind of art that I'm called to create, or what...but I can see why 'many are called, but few answer'...

[dilayne]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

clarification, I mean, in order to create fully and authentically, I must go beyond the ego and all of it's agendas, and all of the other baggage I carry around (hence the forrest with the snakes in the grass) because true creativity comes from the deepest truest self. Sometimes it's very painful to get back there if you have a lot of walls around it..it's like cutting through overgrown thicket...if I don't do that, my art will only be a smudge of what it could be..or it will reflect my ego's agenda..or be created to please others, to sell..anything but what it is meant to do and for me personally, it is a means to express my soul.

[just h]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

okay i placed the idea icon for me........i was always creative. for my first nine years of life i was an only child. i drew a lot. my folks couldn't keep up with my drawing or painting.....paper was never in stock in our house during my fomative and nonsibling years........after my siblings came i expressed myself in darker drawings which my folks never understood so i did my stuff secretly.......i did get a teacher in my sophmore year who saw talent but due to the nomadic Air Force life we moved........so, it took some time for another art instuctor to see talent............when i found a teacher who did he didn't have time to help me build it up.......it was my sr. year. i did attend jr. college classes for some time before i married but never took a drawing or such class......so i thought i lost my appetite or drive or talent.............durning my "bad" marriage i took some classes at Pasadena Comm. College and i realized i still had something.........my ex. quickly took that all away from me that i could be "something" mentally for some reason......(he was a graduate at Fuller Theoligcal Seminary in Mission's). for a bit, i poured myself into my art and drawings and i found ways to pour myself into pieces i submitted to be graded...... so, i guess, i , gave up.......i defeated myself and all of my dreams and i gave up after just two semeters when i was so close to recieving the credits i had earn't befrore the time i could have done "anything" with the credits i had accrued with my credits earned( i even had art history under my belt at at the time)..........my message.....never let anyone change the "idea" of your dream(s) or lead you off course for whatever reason be it "marriage" or a "relatiionship". if they are worthy, they will wait or encourage you...........my current "partner" encourages me but he's at a loss of how to get my creative juices going.............. hopefully i can get all my s@*&t together........that's my greatest desire to get my creative groove back. sadly i have realized it being off my anti-depressants for some time......so, i'm not anxious to get back on them.........some tips would be helpful........i don't want another downward spiral these days with my positive work transition..............i seem to like my current job complete with the drama as my work mates see it. i just see the "drama" as challenges. The "drama" is nothing like i have had to deal with in the past.........

okay, i'm done here for the night..........

huggs to all of you,
just h

i'm not sure my current guy can encourage me buy i have to find out............

[zincityzen]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Hi Just H and welcome to MWO! It is painful to know you have talent and somehow missed room or even permission and encouragement to really blossom. Talent never dies, though. It's still there, lying dormant. I'm with you with feeling as though I've neglected my artist that wants to get out - I don't give it much of a chance to play and explore! There's a beautiful book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron which is a recovery book for injured artists. I read it in the 90s, did the writing, need to get back into it, actually, at the time my art was dance. Start with today. Pencil to paper, draw something from memory, imagination, or whatever is in front of you ... and I'll join you!

[lucky 2.0]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

For what it is worth, I have hesitated to post on this thread because I am not in the least bit sensitive or creative. If you like me, great. If you don't, that is fine too and I really do not care. I interact with so many people with my job that it is not possible for all to like me. I apply that to the rest of my life. Sensitivity got me no where in business and I love my job. Professionalism did get me somewhere though. Sorry to sound so hard and calloused. I feel deeply for MWO and the people here and completely support the mission. How can one not support health?

EDIT: Just went back and read original post on this thread and yes, I do surround myself with beauty!

[SKendall]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

What a great thread! Lucky, you are sensitive you silly duck, didn't we just hear about your not wanting to harm a lizzard???

I think a lot of us on this forum are sensitive in a positive way and definitely sensitive to other people's comments, if not, we would not have had some fuss.

I truly believe that we all have sensitive and beautiful natures and love to be surrounded by nature's beauty - remember Tawny's post? We were all living in places where we could experience or even glimpse nature - those of us in apt bldgs loved at least a birdhouse!

I have always had a small creative streak, but I am now embelleshing on this, because I do not have a natural artistic ability, but I'm working to find one no matter how my creations look.

I love all of you and your creations, especially those who have the ability to poetize.

Rock on!!:h

[Elizabeth]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Well Lucky it really depends what job/career you follow as to whether Sensitivity is a plus or minus feeling to have. Its definately a major PLUS in the world of creativity.

I don't know if being artistic/creative means we are more susceptible to pain or alcoholism. I think artists of any kind have a means at their fingertips to express / illustrate feelings outwardly and that is why they leave their mark on the world so abundantly. Its all relative!

[hablur]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

This is an interesting topic.

I considered my younger self incredably creative. I read books like mad (typically 300 a year), played in the dirt as a kid making whole villages, drew all kinds of pictures, then something happened... In 10th grade I got hooked up with the wrong crowd and all that went away, started using drugs and drinking occassionally. Got my act together and joing the Armed Forces. Drank heavily then... Went to college and studied english and art with my major in electrical engineering... Got B's in EE and A's in English and Art. LOL.. I had an art teacher that said I was wasting my time being an engineer. Funny thing is I hated her class because it wasnt challenging. My creative writing instructor said I should seriously consider taking more english and using my talents there.

As an engineer I design things and watch them being built then seeing them work... To me that is the ultimate in creativity! I cant even describe the ultimate rush I feel when I see something I designed working at the end of a job. It is a much better high than anything I have ever taken

Interestingly, about the feelings aspect of it was that i used to compartmentlize everything and kept evening thing in. Too be honest i think I was much better off then as I didnt drink like now. Once my ego started taking blows left and right (ego isnt the right word) and I turned to my feelings as my wife insisted that I open up and talk about my feelings and my pyschologic brother (in that field) convinced me to open up and feel all my feelings everything seemed to unravel faster than heck.

So now I am a "feeling" man that drinks. I was much better off being the guy that compartmentalized everything in its little box and forgetting about it

I really don't think being creative or not has anything to do with alcoholism. I think it has more to do with the present state your mind is in and what hits you during that time... plus even though no one in my family is an alcoholic (not even close) I believe 100% that there is a change that occurs to your brain while you are drinking or that your genes give you a prediliction for it.

[Jacy]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

All I can say is that sounds just like me. I have always been a very sensitive person.:sigh:

[MaggieD47]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

I am an introvert on the Myers Briggs and I am ultra sensitive and I am at least a problem drinker. I worry because my son is the same as I.

Mags

[trixietrack]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

lucky;136436 wrote: For what it is worth, I have hesitated to post on this thread because I am not in the least bit sensitive or creative. If you like me, great. If you don't, that is fine too and I really do not care. I interact with so many people with my job that it is not possible for all to like me. I apply that to the rest of my life. Sensitivity got me no where in business and I love my job. Professionalism did get me somewhere though. Sorry to sound so hard and calloused. I feel deeply for MWO and the people here and completely support the mission. How can one not support health?

EDIT: Just went back and read original post on this thread and yes, I do surround myself with beauty!

you make me smile lucky

[trixietrack]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

i have been so busy trying to reorganize my life and my home that I haven't posted anything In quite a while.
I finally got a chance to sit down and fire up my laptop. Just finished reading everyone's comments and ideas. I think that you all have very interesting things to say.

I am still struggling with difficulty with the bottles of wine and the pain that they cause but just knowing that I can come here is really helping me overcome slowly but surely.
thank you for being so insightful.:thanks:

[me145]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

wow, thats exactly me trixie.. sensitive, caring, and artistic type... i noticed that alot of people such as musicians and artists do have alcohol or drug issues..

[Guest]

sensitive artistic types and alcohol abuse

Yip, arty farty head-in-the-clouds sort of person........C`EST MOI.........definitely prime candidate for some dependency or other.

So saying.........wouldn`t choose to change a thing about my life as it is today or my history, save for the precious years frittered away drinking, of course.

Starlight Impress x