I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about creativity for weeks. Things kept coming up and I kept putting it off. But with the death of singer Amy Winehouse, I thought this post couldn’t be more timely.
I’ve often wondered why there seems to be such a direct link to creative people and tragedy. Over the past several decades, time and time again those with the brightest of futures seem to be taken from this world prematurely. Either through their own hands, through a destructive lifestyle or suicide, or through some other form of tragedy, like accidents and even murder.
I have no clue why this keeps happening and I suspect it will not stop happening. Unfortunately, we will continue to see bright stars fade too soon.
Here’s what I believe about creativity:
It’s of the divine. When one is in that mode, when thoughts are coming fast and your mind is full of clarity, that’s when you know what you’re creating or doing is bigger than yourself.
That can be both an awesome and terrfiying thing to acknowledge.
The magnitude of creating something can weigh so heavy on your soul and mind that I can see where some people might fear it, or look for a means to escape it through substance abuse or living a reckless lifestyle. I’m not excusing this behavior, but I can see how many creative people can get sucked into that black hole of destruction.
There are a lot of the other things I wanted to say about creativity, but they just don’t feel appropriate to mention right now. So, I’ll save them for another post.
Watch the video below, where best-selling writer Elizabeth Gilbert explains, with a greater passion and intensity than I, the connection of creativity, tragedy and divinity.
*Note the picture I used for today’s blog post came from a recent show I attended. The drumset in the photo belongs to the band that my niece occasionally plays with. Give them a listen and also hear how she sounds as a solo act.
Amanda Bretz 