Old 11-30-2016, 05:08 AM
  # 31 (permalink)  
Aellyce
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
Creativity does not require a product, but I think success does. Without at least some level of follow through and focused hard work, many creative and talented people become lost in the complexities of their own thought processes and become merely eccentric, socially isolated and self destructive. I think we tend to romanticize this phenomenon especially when we are not in a good place mentally and/or stuck. I certainly have... code of my youth in some ways. Speaking about writers, to bring an example, one of the favorites of my youth was Herman Hesse. I binge-read all of his books within an about 2 year period in my early 20's, some more than once or even twice. It made me feel like I found a friend or something. There is a very clear and obvious personal development if we look at his works in a chronological order but back then I actually found the later books kinda boring... because they no longer carried the haunted persona, restlessness and a form of dissociated self inherent in his earlier works. I don't feel like re-reading any of them now but remembering well, I think I could much, much more relate to the later books at this point. But he was not just a creative and expressive individual... he was able to turn himself with all of its eccentricities into a productive channel of works.

Admiring these people, for me at least, is in part about being drawn to similarities and what's familiar (real or perceived) and (like on this thread I think) incorporating the familiar negative elements into more "successful" and productive ideals or idols that we like to relate to and use as role models. I think it's also a subjective way to increase our self esteem: its not just lost talent after all.

At this point of my life, I personally tend to be more drawn to features like discipline, perseverance and responsibility than creativity or pure talent. To me, talent means nothing if it is not being used constructively and productively. Going back to the addicted celebrities and recovery, obviously it's more helpful to choose idols who make it into lasting recovery and a reasonable level of contentment in their lives.
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