Unhappiness is sometimes a part of the artist’s psyche especially if at the core you believe that you are not enough. But you are. Here’s a great tip to solve this issue.
Video:
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Podcast:
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Video Transcript:
Hi there. It’s John Paul Fischbach here, the CEO and Chief Alchemist at the Auspicious Arts Incubator. This week I want to tackle a darker, more emotional topic that plagues many artists and that is unhappiness and particularly the link between unhappiness and the driven artist. I have known successful painters and ceramicists and actors and musicians and writers who’s won awards and were highly regarded. To most people they would be seen as having it all yet they weren’t happy. All the external validation didn’t seem to mean anything to them. There’s also the artists that I’ve known who were so driven they create and create and they never stop. They never stop and acknowledge their achievements. The cause of their unhappiness is usually a core belief and that belief is I’m not enough.
In the first case no matter how many awards or how many achievements it’s never enough because they dont believe that they are enough. Somewhere along the line something happened or someone told them that they weren’t enough.
In the second case, the case of the driven artist that drive comes from the same core belief I’m not enough. I have to keep creating because maybe one day it will be enough and then I’ll be enough but you are enough. We are enough. I am enough. Feeling not enough and believing that you are not enough creates perpetual unhappiness. It’s what leads to all sorts of dysfunctional behavior. As artists we’ve seen it. The least of which is drug and alcohol dependence, anorexia, depression even suicide.
As artists we are susceptible to external opinion and external validation. Praise from someone else is good but the praise that you give yourself is better. When was the last time that you paused and gave yourself some praise?
One of the people that I follow is Marisa Peer. She’s an unconventional therapist who works with a lot of A List artists and athletes. She’s helped turned around the lives of many people suffering from this belief, I’m not good enough. One technique she uses is she actually gets people to write I am enough. Write it on their bathroom mirrors and on their studio walls and you know what? It actually works. I encourage you to do it.
Write I am enough somewhere where you’re going to see it every day and I want you to repeat this phrase allowed every day for a month. Practice, repeat after me. I am enough. I’ve always been enough. Now that I know that I am enough everyone else knows it too. I will always be enough.
Did you like this Hot Tip? Let us and be sure and subscribe to the next one and tell a fellow artist about us. If you want real practical help and support to thrive as an artist check us out at www.AuspiciousArtsIncubator.org.