Burra

I have always enjoyed being a creative, but alcohol made it so much more exciting and easy, not to mention more daring and technical. Without alcohol, I can't seem to come up with much enthusiasm at all. Guitar, drawing, digital art, whatever, it's so boring to me. Are there other creatives who saw life after alcohol?

Dee74

Hi Burra

I play music...I drank so much that my creativity dried up for several years while I was still drinking....and, for me, it didn't come back again til I was several years sober.

I started learning to play music before drinking took over.
I think the earlier you can quit, the sooner you (re) learn to create without it

D

doggonecarl

Just another ploy of your addiction to keep you drinking.

RecklessDrunk

Stevie Ray Vaughan was sober around the last 4 years of his life. I believe his cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma (helicopter crash). No drugs or alcohol were present in his system at the time of his death.

About 8 months before the crash he gave an AA speech which is still over you tube. Even if AA isn't the route you go it might be good to hear him. In my book this isn't just a rockstar, this is a God of rock.

I'm just not an art or music type. I have the opposite kind of skill set. The crap I use to associate with music. I think hearing Stevie unpolluted my mind a little bit. Even though not the art type, not rich, not famous, i can identify with Stevie. Thats a big part of things like SR and AA. Figuring out how I'm like other alcoholics, instead of how I'm different.

I loved and still love much of 80s heavy metal I grew up with as well as the late 60s (and on) classic rock. Really got into the classics in later high school years and would associate the music and the drinkin and druggin together. How cool it must of been to go to Woodstock and live in those times. Like about everything in life my attitude and perception of rock and roll was horrible!

I don't have a clue about how to play or write music or paint or even draw a straight line. I have seen some improvement in creativity in my math geek stuff though. Problem solving is huge for my job and there is definitely a huge element of creativity.

D122y

I relate to your post in that some artistic folks will drink to get the juices flowing.

Joe Walsh said he had to learn to live again after he quit. Many of the artists I am a fan of have quit being addicts as they got older. e.g. Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler. Slash, Axl Rose etc etc. The music that made after quitting was still amazing to me.

Sober people are more amazing to me than drunks everytime.

I am more creative than not, but definitely not a real artist. e.g. guitar player or painter. I have a guitar that I play once or twice a month. I can draw a bit and am able to write well enough for most folks. I like to play with words and sentences, but often violate proper American English. Oh well.

Since quitting now for a good while I have found other strengths that were covered up by the poison.

Things like patients, calmness, empathy, persistence, and stamina.

When I was a drunk, I would fall apart after a few hours of walking or standing. Now I can go all day.

If I didn't get enough sleep, I would get physically ill. Now I can go several days with nearly no sleep. But, this doesn't happen very often because I sleep better these days.

Sleeping well is one of the most amazing things I appreciate as a born again sober man.

Sleeping well alone is a reason to never ever drink again. Booze alters the sleep pattern. Never ever ever drinking again for this reason and others.

I agree with the post commenting about feeling a lack of creativity is a trigger. The addiction will do anything for a fix. Even after decades of sobriety the crave will always be there lurking in the shadows.

Booze is poison. I hate the stuff.

Thanks.

pline

This an interesting subject.
My experience is of diminishing returns. The intoxicated creative rush is great, even productive, to begin with. But the returns fade as the addiction takes over. In its later stages the apparent 'creativity' just becomes an excuse for the intoxication. Then its a short ride to all intoxication, and who cares about the creativity.

This is a pattern you can see in the lives of many artists and creatives known for their drinking and drugging.

There is another pattern. Initially the drinking and drugging serves a purpose: It can help in overcoming the inhibitions and self doubt that so often initially inhibits creative expression. But with time and experience some find that creativity capacity in themselves and simply don't need intoxication to access it. I guess they develop a sufficient degree of confidence in their own creativity. Intoxication becomes an obstacle to self expression. A good place to be if you can get there.

2ndhandrose

I definitely relate to this ^^^^^

Burra, I found that the further I go into my recovery the more my enthusiasm and creativity heals and grows. It just takes time.

Burra

That would have been amazing

Oh wow. From now on I'll limit my conversations here to ones where thinking for myself is kept to a gentle minimum.

doggonecarl

A cornerstone of my recovery was the belief that the addictive voice (AV) inside my mind is what drove me to keep on drinking. The idea in recovery is that by recognizing this voice as the enemy the addict will be better able to deal with it. That's why I said the idea that you need alcohol to be creative is a ploy of your addiction.

But if you want to work on the precept that it's your thinking that's driving the drinking thoughts, that okay. You still don't need alcohol to be creative.

dustyfox

Yes, I relate to this.
I totally believed, from early on, that my own creativity was fuelled, nurtured, inspired and drawn from and by my exploration of alcohol and drugs. It gave me me a rush of energy and adrenalin. The reality was I didn't have the self confidence to pursue it without alcohol or drugs - Why? That is what I am figuring out now.

I admired artists , musicians and writers many of whom drank or drugged and produced quite iconic or inspiring work - the older I get and the more sober I get, there is the realisation that I relate to their work because they also needed to be intoxicated to have confidence to express their ideas/passions/opinions.
But to answer the question - Is there creativity after drinking has been banished?. Yes it is there, more powerful and more real than ever before.

least

I'm not much of an artist, in any sense, but found that with continued sobriety, my thinking became clearer and more logical. I wasn't running on emotions, I was operating with a lot of logic. (Mr Spock and Data are my favorite ST characters because of their devotion to logic)

I can't say I'm more or less creative, just that I feel like I've got new eyes that see better than my old alcohol-fueled eyes. They see things I'd missed in the past.

KAD65

I'm a musician, or used to be. For many years, I told myself that I needed the booze to keep my creative edge, that whatever I wrote sober was just going to be dull and boring. I can only share my personal experience here, but I found that, over time, what I thought was creative genius while under the influence of alcohol mostly existed in my own head. And as my drinking increased, I spent less time writing my own music and more time listening to someone else's. Delusions of grandeur took the place of actually creating something. Eventually, I stopped writing music altogether. That's what happened in my life as a result of drinking, not because I stopped.

BullDog777

In the 90's, I made a F ton of cash drawing comics. My drinking and drugging was in it's infancy then but eventually I would destroy my career and burn my bridges from the way I treated people.

The next 25 years, I did work some-but my ego was way bigger than my sales were. Plus, I was hard to deal with and almost never kept a deadline. That screws so many people every time I would miss one, but I did it unapologetically which was horrible of me.

I always had the ability, but my ethics and performance were a victim of my illness. When I got sober, I thought I had lost all of my creativity. I thought I had lost the ability to paint. Be it digitally or traditionally, I almost never tried anymore.

However, I missed it. Terribly. There was a time when I picked up a brush that I was a God of what ever world I chose to create and people loved it. No one more than me. So..it was time to go get it back.

I know a few things to be true about me. I'm very talented. I can learn and get good at things very quickly if I put my mind to it. So I decided to get my career back with zero emotion attached to it in the beginning. The first thing I had to do was come up with a plan. I had to shake out the rust. So it began, that I went back to the basics and made sure I created a very strong foundation in technical ability. The magic doesn't happen unless there is foundation so that's where I started.

I broke up my days into a very technical schedule. For 3 hours a day it was anatomy. Another 3 on faces. Another 3 on lighting. Another 3 on perspective. I did that for 12 hours a day until I started to see me again. Then it was relearning color theory and remastering brushes and pens. I did that for a good 6 months. It was right around then that I started to impress myself again.

I wasn't looking for the greatest composition or color or the best idea that I ever had- I just needed to create. I'd get to the emotional stuff later.

It took me about 9 months to really start to wake up that part of my mind again. But I will tell you this. When it did finally wake up, it was like WOAH!!! There I am again. The magic is back.

So I started coming up with a plan to get some work published. I started talking to old friends and contacts and told them what I was doing. Most of them didn't believe me until I started producing. An then, getting me to stop-well, that was a whole other issue they hadn't had to deal with before. I was inundating them with so much content, I had to step back and come up with a better way to manage my gift.

So then I started a you tube channel. An then I started getting a lot of success there. I've written an epic graphic novel series that will be published in mid 2022 and then I'm going to try to get it optioned for a streaming service.

I didn't start this the first week or month or year or two that I got sober. I worked a little, but not much. It took me a few years of sobriety before I was able to heal my brain enough to get it all back. An I started with zero expectations. If I only did it for me and I was the only one who appreciated it, then that was ok by me. The creating was always my love. I don't give a s#it what comes with it. So, yeah. I like money as much as the next guy, but it was more about just getting a part of me back that I wanted back.

Give yourself time to heal. The love will come back. Right now, your brain is trying to rewire itself from years of poison and neglect. Give it time and be patient. That's the key. Give yourself time to grow.

I've learned that life, as cliché as it sounds is a game of inches. We grow and save ourselves one moment at a time for the course of our lifetime. That used to drive me crazy. I think though- it was a way to give me a lot of small victories a long the way. If I got this all the first week or year I got clean, I never would have loved it like I do now.

I hope that helps.

Outonthetiles

I had the same experience as least, Dee and Bulldog. If anything, alcohol is a creativity killer.

pline

Bulldog. I enjoyed that post a lot.
Thanks

Surrendered19

I defer to D122y and others as to how alcohol wreaks havoc on the different parts of our brains, including our creative centers. But I do know one thing - your creativity and imagination were there before you had your first drink way back when. Alcohol did not create those qualities in you. They are still there - dormant perhaps - but ready to awaken and flourish again.

Sammy1980

Just give yourself time! Your creativity will come back!

Burra

Sorry if I came across as rude. I am working a lot of hours

​It's not an idea or belief though. Being creative is important to me. To be an artist is to question things, no matter what they are and break limits, challenge beliefs whatever they are. It is not an alcoholic voice

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This is simply untrue to me. I am not trying to argue with people. However the reality is people use substances to be more creative. That is the world.
I have found that substances will usually enhance my output, and the quality of my work. Alcohol has often helped.
There is no use finger wagging at me and saying drink is bad. It has been tremendously helpful at times.
The fact remains however I want to quit. That could mean choosing between being sober and plain, or back to being a drunk.
Of course I would choose the latter if it had to be that choice. Or at least another substance.
It is not about mindlessly rushing to put as many drugs inside you as possible to maintain a high for the sake of it, because you are out of control and addicted. It is about expressing yourself in ways that will matter.
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Surrendered19

Being sober and plain or back to being a drunk. That is a false choice Burra. Your AV at its finest.

Dismissing others' input as "finger wagging" is also very convenient isn't it? If you view what others have to say as condescending or finger-wagging, it is all easily discarded and you don't have to think about any of it.

I challenge you to challenge yourself on all of this.

BullDog777

That's a false perception. That's our brain having a distorted image of what's real and what isn't. Nobody creative(that I've ever known) has lent any credence to a bottle of liquor enhancing their ability. I could rattle off more than a dozen professional writers fine artists and musicians who would take issue with your statement after some lengthy recovery.

Most of the time, it's our ego and mind being angry that it's grieving the loss of false input from the poison we ingest. We lash out when it no longer works for us in whatever capacity we need it to. It's understandable, but simply not a true statement of measure.